


The Unexpected Team

by Pan1ckedMode



Category: RWBY
Genre: Multi, NSFW eventually, Not harem, Overpowered Jaune Arc, Poly! ABYN, more added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:00:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 42,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28768209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pan1ckedMode/pseuds/Pan1ckedMode
Summary: Jaune Arc didn't know what he was thinking by faking his way into Beacon Academy. Sure, he knew that it was his quickest shot toward becoming a hero, but he didn't know what the life of a huntsman was truly like. However, thanks to being placed on a team with the Invincible Girl, A Ninja and a Blonde Bombshell, maybe there's still a chance for Jaune Arc to make something of himself.
Relationships: Eventual Qrow Branwen/Winter Schnee, Jaune Arc/Blake Belladonna/Pyrrha Nikos/Yang Xiao Long, More Ships To Be Decided And Added Here Later
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. This Looks Like It's Going To Be One Of Those Days

"I can't believe my baby sister's going to beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

The young woman, a fair-skinned individual with lilac eyes and bright golden hair that fades to pale gold at the tips with a cowlick sticking out at the top tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low cut yellow crop top with her emblem on the left in black. a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a long, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. To finalize the outfit, she has an orange infinity scarf and a pair of black fingerless gloves covering her hands.

"Please...stop..."

The groaning sound had come from the person inside the blonde's fierce grip. She was Another young girl, who looked slightly younger than the first. Her eyes were colored silver and she had neck-length black hair tipped with crimson ends. She was outfitted in a black long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, over which is a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a matching skirt with red lining. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trims around the top, and red soles.

Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver buckle on her wide black belt, which is slung around her hips on an angle. Attached to the other side of the young woman's belt are several bullets each one with a different color circled around the base.

"But I'm so proud of youuu!" the blonde exclaimed in a happy tone, practically shivering with exuberation. Her hands were rapidly moving up and down thanks to her excitement as well.

"Really sis, it was nothing," the shorter girl said, her eyes downcast.

"What do you mean!? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bees knees!" The blonde exclaimed, once again trying to raise her younger sister's excitement level.

"I don't wanna be the bees knees," the dark-haired girl complained, "Okay? I don't wanna be any kinda knees! I just wanna be a normal girl with normal knees."

"What's with you? Aren't you excited!?"

"Of course I'm excited, I just... I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

The blond girl slowly moved to her sister's side and lifted one of her arm's around the younger girl's shoulder, hoping to offer some comfort as well as instill some confidence in the younger sister, "But you are special."

"The Robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick-"

The girls' attention is drawn to the 2-D animated newscast on Vale News Network playing nearby, talking about the robbery and showing Roman's mug shot.

"-who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

The mugshot changes to Lisa Lavender, with a photo of animal-eared demonstrators holding signs saying "WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!" followed by an image of the logo of a growling red wolf's head with three scratch marks, "Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted..."

The news feed is cut off as a hologram of a a middle-aged woman that has very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses. She has dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar. Her outfit consisted of. a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon," she said.

"Who's that?" Yang asked Ruby.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy!" Goodwitch continued, "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

Following this announcement the hologram, several people aboard the airship let out cries of surprise and rushed to the glass on either side of the airship trying to get a better glimpse of the view they were all experiencing. Ruby, among the excited students rushed over to the window closest to her and exclaimed happily, "Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here! I guess home isn't too far after all!"

"Beacon's our home, now," Yang corrected her sister, still wearing the same smile from before. Though she had to admit her sister's excitement at witnessing the school for the first time was something she herself was sharing in during this moment. Over their conversation, The two sisters hear a passenger groaning and hunched over nearby, running to the back of the ship and Yang couldn't help but to roll her eyes, "Well... I guess the view isn't for everyone."

"It was a nice moment while it lasted," Ruby shrugged.

The ship's engines flare, it is seen approaching Beacon across a large body of water. It turns towards the docking point and slowly lowers itself down into the position it needed to be. The speed it had been producing moments before all but non-existence right now. Ruby's excited eyes still locked on the view outside of the airship, "I wonder who we're gonna meet! I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy. Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!"

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"

"Get-Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!"

Jaune Arc was not having a good day. He'd thought that the least of his troubles were over when he'd surprisingly gotten his transcripts to Beacon approved. That part had surprised Jaune as well. He was certain that his transcripts would be detected as fake and then he would be left to struggle with the idea of what he was going to do next with his life. The transcripts had indeed been accepted and here was now was, dealing with the horrrible aspect of himself known as motion sickness.

'So much for making a good impression, I'm probably doomed to be called some ridiculous nickname that references this incident, you watch!'

Sighing to himself, Jaune finally pushed himself up to his full height. Now that the ship had docked, the motion sickness seemed to calm itself a little bit. He really needed to remember to get some medicine or something for that in advance before he had to take another trip via airship. Dealing with that every time he wanted to go to and from Beacon was hardly an attractive prospect for the young man. Another sigh fell from Jaune's lips and he slowly walked toward the exit of the airship.

Once he'd recovered enough to resume walking, Jaune noticed that one of the girls he'd seen on the Airship before was lying on the ground and had just let out an exasperated sound. Probably had something to do with the explosion he heard on the way over here, Jaune deduced. Perhaps now was as good a time as any to start making friends, "You alright?" he asked, walking over to where the girl had fallen. He held out his hand to her, "I'm Jaune, Wanna hand?"

"Ruby," the girl said, allowing for Jaune to pull her back to her feet. She dusted herself off then returned her gaze to Jaune, "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Jaune winced, visibly groaning at her statement, of course his horrible premonition from earlier had to be coming true already, it was just his luck after all, "Look, motion sickness is a surprisingly common ailment you know. Besides, this coming from the girl who exploded? What if I were to call you crater-face?" got 'em, Jaune.

"Look I'm sorry!" Ruby exclaimed, "It's just the first thing that came to mind! Please don't call me crater face, Jaune!"

"Fine, Fine. Well, we'd better get a move on if we're going to get to the orientation before it's finished. Shall we go? This place has got to have directory right? Maybe a food-court? Some kind of recognizable landmark?"

"Yeah, that's a no," Ruby said, alongside a giggle.

"Figures," Jaune sighed, "Well, the only thing we can do is try and find where the most students are going. That's likely our best bet of figuring out where we're supposed to be going."

"Good idea, Jaune let's go."

Finally, after a short while of searching, Jaune and Ruby finally entered Beacon's large Auditorium which was already rapidly filling up with students as far as the eye could see. Ruby waved goodbye to Jaune when Yang informed her sister that she'd saved her a spot and Jaune went off to go and find somewhere else to stand and wait for the ceremony to begin. He was surprised by the sheer volume of how many students were present here, he'd heard that out of the four combat schools, Beacon was the most popular but still this many students was way above what Jaune thought the reports meant by a lot. He shouldn't really have been surprised. All these students were going to be incredibly skilled as well, so what chance did he have of making a good impression? No, he couldn't afford to think like that, he'd gotten into Beacon and now all that was left was initiation and how bad could that be? Piece of cake, right?

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge," Jaune's internal musings were cut short thanks to the timely appearance of Beacon's Headmaster, Ozpin, who'd just taken the stage to deliver his speech, "to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. (as the students whisper among themselves) You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Jaune's head tilted curiously. That was certainly out there. What was this guy drinking? Jaune was almost sure that wasn't coffee in the steaming mug gripped in Ozpin's hands. Was it some kind of hallucinatory tea or something? Well, he supposed only time would tell. Though, the way the elderly man clutched that mug, Jaune doubted he'd discover the answer to that question any time soon.

"Tonight you will gather in the ballroom," the figure of Glynda Goodwitch said, advancing toward the platform as Ozpin stepped away from it, "Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready."

Location Change: Beacon Academy Cliffs.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Professor Ozpin said, looking around at the gathered students. Though it was almost undetectable, the man wore a small grin on his face.

"Now," Professor Goodwitch said, cutting in from where Ozpin left off, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

"What? Ohhh..."

Jaune paused, well that was rather quick. He was surprised that they were all being randomly thrown into teams without having a chance to work together first. Were they really just going to let the chips fall where they may and expect the students to survive long enough to develop the chemistry that any team needed to succeed? He may've faked his way to get in here, but even he could see how much of a horrible idea that was. Not that he would ever repeat those words aloud of course.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin continued to advise.

So, the teams were at random but there were specific partnerships that were going to form? Okay, maybe this guy wasn't as bat-shit insane as he sounded. Through his internal thoughts, Jaune could also hear a loud groan from beside him which he assumed belonged to one Ruby Rose. She'd been shown to be a little awkward socially just like he was, Jaune could easily see how the placement of random teams would be something that bothered her.

"That being said," Ozpin stated with an air of finality, "the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

The shocked expression on Ruby's face, in Jaune's opinion, mirrors her world cracking like glass and falling apart, "Whaaaat?!" she exclaimed.

Nora turned to the boy dressed in green beside her, "See, Renny? I told you-!"

Ozpin took a breath, then pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, "after you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."

Jaune laughed nervously and then a small gulp escaped his lips. Well, the students were expected to have some prior form of combat training to get here so perhaps he really shouldn't have been all that surprised. Coming here expecting that they'd not see combat until instructors here had given them a couple of lessons had been a really stupid assumption to make in hindsight.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune's hand is immediately thrown into the air, "Yeah, um, sir?"

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Jaune sighed heavily. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it? He turned his head and watched as the first student right down the very far end of the line was launched off their platform and sky-high into the air. Another sigh left his lips a moment later, 'Yup, defenitely about to be one of those days' One by one, the students were thrown off their platforms until finally with a mighty and girlish scream, Jaune wailed to the heavens, his body spinning through the air like a pinwheel. The blond shut his eyes tightly, continuing to scream like a small girl, descending through the air until he felt rather than heard the rush of sharp metal and the dull thunk that indicated he'd stopped moving through the air. Jaune's gaze tilted upward and he sighed, "Wonderful," he said sarcastically, "Go to Beacon, he said," Jaune admonished himself, "It'll be fun he said."

_**End Chapter** _

_**Well that feels like a good enough place to end things for the first chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll review. Until next time then.** _


	2. Chapter Two: The Boy Who's Light Shines Brightest!

And just like that the white-haired girl and the dark-haired girl with crimson tips had departed and it looked like there was no hope in sight for himself. Of all the dastardly situations he could've landed himself in...Well, he supposed this was what he got for daring to fake his transcripts. All alone, to be hanging around and waiting for death. Oh, what rotten luck did he have this Jaune Arc. No matter how much the blond struggled, it seemed that these efforts were to be to no avail. He was stuck here and unless some poor unfortunate soul came to get him down then this was the end.

"This is it, Jaune," he said aloud, "The end of the road. Man, there was so much I wanted to do with my life, yet here I am, awaiting death...pinned to a tree."

"Jaune?" a voice asked slightly in the distance, "I was wondering if you had any spots left on your team?"

"Yeah, very funny," Jaune threw back at the young woman, he vaguely remembered meeting her in the locker room before the start of initiation, Pyrrha? that was her name, at least that's what he thought. The only thing he really recalled about her was that she'd been on the cover of his favorite cereal, "Look, mind helping down from here?"

"Anything to help you, partner."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great."

The bitter sound in Jaune's voice was undoubtedly a counter to the bright happiness that Pyrrha found in hers, but given the blond's current predicament she could hardly blame him for being frustrated. Was it potentially her fault for pinning him to a tree to make sure that she got the partner she wanted when she'd told the Schnee girl she was planning on merely 'letting the chips fall where they may?' that, Pyrrha Nikos thought, was hardly a relevant question and she would deny this fact until the end of her days. With a flex of her fingertips Miló was retracted into her grip and Jaune slid comedically down the trunk of the tree back down to the ground.

"What a menace," Jaune complained under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"N-nothing," Jaune quickly got back to his feet, made sure that Crocea Mors was still safely attached to his belt and then stepped in line beside Pyrrha, "So, we're partners then?"

"Yup, what's say we move along and find our relic, Jaune?"

"Y-yeah, course."

Well, he'd survived the so-called 'landing strategy', what was that headmaster thinking throwing them all off a cliff like that on their first day? The looks of confidence on his fellow first years' faces had done nothing to spur his own. Perhaps having gone to real training academies before Beacon they were prepared for this in advance in contrast to him who hadn't been to one so there'd been no chance he'd have that knowledge prior to entering Beacon? Well, there was nothing he could do about it now and he'd survived it so he wasn't about to start questioning things, instead he slowly drew Crocea Mors from its scabbard and silently advanced, the blade of the weapon trembling slightly in time with the one that came from the hand gripped around it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha asked, noticing this.

"I'm just fine," Jaune responded, "As you say, let's move along."

"R-right you are!"

The two walked on in silence for quite some time, Jaune due to his focus on the situation at hand and Pyrrha due to not really knowing what to say. She'd wanted him as a Partner for more than a few reasons but he seemed to be much further behind in his trainig than she'd originally anticipated. Sure, the first years aren't likely to be on the level of some of the people she'd competed with back at Mistral in the Tournaments, but she at least expected they'd be able to hold their own, but this Jaune, whilst nice enough, didn't look like he'd had a day of battle in his entire life.

"Hold on a sec," Jaune interrupted Pyrrha's train of thought, "Did you hear that? Sounded like gunfire."

"It appears that some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

"Then we'd best go and-"

The two continued advancing, only for a branch to kick up and whack Jaune across the face. He stumbled backward, tripped over his own feet and ended up on the ground, a loud groan of discontent escaping the young man's mouth.

"D-dammit," He muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Pyrrha exclaimed, rushing over to help the Arc back to his feet. She was definitely concerned for Jaune's well-being now, not just because of his apparent lack of any sort of skill since they'd been dropped off that cliff, but also because of how much a small injury seemed to derail him.

"It's fine, just a scratch," Jaune said, once he was back on his feet. Indeed it seemed as though the branch that had caused the blond's fall was also responsible for leaving a rather small gash to the side of Jaune's cheek.

"Why didn't you activate your Aura?"

"Huh?"

"Your Aura."

"Geshundeit."

"Jaune...do you know what Aura is?"

Jaune released a sheepish laugh, his hand rose to the back of his head and he rubbed there a few times, nervousness evident on the young man's face, "Of course I do, do you know what Aura is?"

Pyrrha smiles at him, fondness clear in her eyes, "Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt like you were being watched without knowing someone was there?"

"...Now that you mentioned it, yeah..."

"With practice," Pyrrha continued her instruction, "our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it even animals."

"What about monsters?" Jaune asked her.

"No, the creatures of Grimm are monsters of anonymity. They are the darkness and we are the light. However, that doesn't mean they don't have somewhat of an aura about them. It's more of a sense rather than what we create. It's a feeling, a vibe, that could possibly only be described one way. Pure evil."

"And that's why we fight them, right?" Jaune pressed.

Pyrrah shook her head, "It's not about why, it's about knowing. Unerstanding both light and dark helps us manifest our Aura. By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

Jaune's eyes burst open, the realization hitting him all at once, "You mean it's like a force-field!?"

Unable to help herself, Pyrrha smiled at the young man opposite her, "I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Pyrrha agreed, "Now, close your eyes and concentrate."

Confusion written all over his face, Jaune did as the young woman before him asked a little hesitantly, "Uhhh...okay."

Pyrrha smiles and closes her own eyes, opening them as her skin glows and her irises shrink before shutting them again. The two stand there, now with Pyrrha glowing a faint red and Jaune a bright white, "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." Pyrrha places a hand on Jaune's chest, trying to control the flow of the energy she was producing, "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

Once she'd finished the statements, the red-head hunched over slightly, the strain from what she'd just done very clearly written all over Pyrrha's face. The still-glowing blond shot her a look of concern from in front of her but he was just met with a tired smile from the girl who'd just managed to get herself back to her full height.

"It's all right," Pyrrha divulges, "I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own. You have a lot of it."

The smile on Pyrrha's face never fades as the glow around the young man's body heals the gash caused by the tree-branch in no time at all. For someone so obviously inexperienced, perhaps his vast pool of aura was going to be what carried him through. However, Pyrrha was privately looking forward to being partnered with him. She could help him grow on the battlefield and in turn, Jaune could help her by teaching her what it was like to have someone in her life that wasn't after her influence, fame or money.

"Wow..." Jaune muttered, looking down at himself right until the glow that had formed finally dissipated. The blond didn't notice this, but the moment Jaune's aura had activated there was a small tremble from his belt, more specifically the scabbard attached to it. The slightest of trembles that would likely even be missed by all except the eyes of those trained to detect such things.

Back up on the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest, Professor Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch are watching the events transpire through the use of their scrolls. Ozpin takes a sip of the liquid contained within his mug and Miss Goodwitch speaks, "Our last pair has been formed, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor Boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos...I don't care what that boy's transcripts say, he's clearly not ready for this level of combat."

"Hmm, give it a while," Ozpin said quietly, "I think you'll find that given the chance, Young Mr. Arc is going to surprise you."

"What makes you so insistent about this, Headmaster?"

"The hatred of wasted potential," Ozpin said in a very final sort of way.

Back with Jaune and Pyrrha, the two were advancing towards the mouth of an open cave. However, the red-head and the blond both shared looks of concern by the fact neither of them could see into it. Jaune went to take a step forward but Pyrrha grabbed him by the shoulder, preventing him from advancing any further.

"What?"

"I'm not sure this is the right way," she said, "That cavemouth doesn't look like it's attached to the temple and we may find something more sinister within."

"How d'you suppose we get through here then? I don't see any alternative routes, Pyrrha."

"It's rather simple actually," she said, a smile gracing her features once more, "We go over it."

Jaune turned his head slightly and noticed the incline beside the cave. How had he not seen that before? Though, should they really be skipping out on seeing if the relics were inside? Jaune kept thinking back to Ozpin's words about a Forest Temple and this cave right here looked unlike any temple he'd ever seen before. Pyrrha was probably right. They needed to avoid conflict if they co- He suddenly felt a vibration against his leg, one that shook him entirely to the core.

Why...Why was Crocea Mors reacting like this?

"Jaune are you okay?"

"I think so, come on, let's keep moving."

"Good idea."

Together, Jaune and Pyrrha approached the hill beside the cave and ascended it through the trees as best they could. At times there were some tight squeezes but in the end they managed to break through an enter into a clearing. The clearing was mostly barren save for a few flowers splattered throughout the space and a rather large tower that looked as though it'd seen better days right at the end of it. Jaune thought they might've been the first ones to arrive, but instead they were greeted by the sight of a golden-haired girl and a raven-haired girl standing by the plinths already.

"The relics are here!" Yang called to them both, "Come choose one!"

A relieved breath left Jaune's mouth, one that he didn't even know he was holding onto, "You go and choose for u-"

Suddenly, several crashing noises are heard in the forest ahead of them, and an Ursa comes out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hits it in the back and it crashes to the ground, depositing its rider. The rider, a young woman with bright orange hair makes an exclamation and happily hops down off the Grimm she was riding before turning back to it and poking its armored head with the barrel of her grenade launcher, "Aww no, I broke it."

Another person came staggering through the treeline behind her and bend forward slightly, gripping his knees and panting heavily, "Nora," he tried to admonish, "Please...don't ever do that again." The boy, Ren's, head turns all around the fallen Ursa's body but it seems that his new partner has rushed off into the unknown yet again. Nora, had in fact, rushed over and collected one of the relics, a golden castle, which she proudly sung, "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!" upon obtaining said relic and only departed with a loud cry of, "Nora!" from her partner to which she responded with, "Coming Ren!"

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked, her question being thrown to no one in particular. Her attention was once again grabbed by a loud screech that emanated from the sky and it took all of Blake's effort not to cover her ears from the sheer force of the sound. She sighed some, then took a step back. Thanks to this she didn't notice the appearance of a rapidly incoming crimson projectile in the form of one Ruby Rose.

"Look out beloww!" the reaper shouted.

Ruby managed to be caught by Yang who'd launched herself with the help of her Gauntlets and she returned to ground level, happiness on her face, "Careful there, Rubes," she said, a grin on the blonde's face, "Wouldn't want to have to scrape you off the forest floor."

Crocea Mors was now trembling more furiously than before, almost to the point where Jaune was looking down at it in trepidation. He looked back up at the large bird-like Grimm just in time to hear the loud scream of Weiss Schnee erupting from the back of the creature.

"You left her up there?" Yang asked her sister incredulously.

"I told her to jump, she'll be fine," Ruby said defensively.

"She's falling," Ren immediately countered.

"Ruby," Jaune said, "catch Weiss, I'm going to take that things head off."

"And that Nevermore is swooping right in!" Pyrhha exclaimed, "Wait, Jaune, no!"

But Jaune wasn't listening, instead he'd already began his charge, sprinting forward across the clearing as fast as his legs would carry him. He didn't know what he was thinking by doing this. Out of all present, he was probably the lest qualified to deal with any battle, but the moment he'd heard the fear in the young woman's voice, his body had started carrying him forward of its own accord.

'It's Time, boy. Take up our sword and inherit the will of the Arc Family. Bound through blood, awakened by aura. You will take the strength of your forebearers and destroy all those who slither in the dark!'

On instinct alone, Jaune took the handle of Crocea Mors and hauled it from its scabbard. Once in position, he felt for the first time in his life that he held a steady grip on the weapon, He barely noticed the blitz of crimson confirming that Weiss had been caught by her partner. No, his focus was entirely on the battle before him.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed again, making to go after him, but it was Yang's hand on her shoulder that acted as the stopping point, "Let me go!" the red-head demanded, "He's in danger!"

"We're all in danger," Yang said bluntly, "And the way he's charging in right now, you going in right behind him is going to do him no favors. Have some faith in him. Sure, he may be a pain in the ass and he did vomit on my shoes, but who knows, maybe he's hiding some real talent under all that dorkiness."

"Guys!" Nora exclaimed, "You're gonna miss the best part, blondey's sword is glowing!"

"What!?" Pyrrha and Yang exclaimed at the precise same second.

It was true. Crocea Mors had been bathed in a shimmering sapphire light that made the blade appear several times larger than it was in its base and Jaune's own body was coated in the aura that seemed to be feeding itself into the sword. The Nevermore screeched a second time and unleashed a veil of large feathers, shooting them down towards the earth as though they were projectiles. Jaune kicked off the ground, using the feathers as platforms on which he jumped up and across each one bouncing between them all flawlessly, adjusting his stance where needed until finally he was able to kick off one and ascend rapidly into the air. Jaune swung the mighty transformed Crocea Mors upward and cleaved the Nevermore's head clean from its body.

"Wait..." Blake breathed, clearly mystified by the performance the young man had just put on.

"That was the dork who threw up on me?" Yang asked, sure, she'd been the one to say have a little faith in the guy, but for him to prove them all wrong so quickly and so easily...it was incomprehensible. So then, how had he improved so much in such a short time?

Pyrrha Nikos was dumbfounded. Her initial worries for her partner had been completely miscalculated. To think all he'd really needed was his Aura unlocked to become a formidable fighter. Was that perhaps a part of his semblance? Though, a semblance coming this quickly was simply unheard of. It usually tooks months, sometimes even years after a person's aura was unlocked to discover and master it.

"Potential, hm?" Goodwitch asked Ozpin, her eyes never leaving the tablet infront of her.

Ozpin merely lifted his mug to his lips, trying to hide the smug smirk present.

_**End Chapter** _


	3. Team ABYN

Well, that was a thing', Jaune thought to himself as he slowly descended back to the ground level. A small sigh escaped his lips and he quickly readjusted his position so that he was able to ride on the back of the deceased Nevermore until he reached the ground. A sigh of relief left Jaune's lips and he returned Crocea Mors to its scabbard once he'd finally taken position on the ground again. Silence hung throughout the entire clearing and Jaune looked up from what he was doing to see varying expressions of shock on his new classmates' favor, well aside from Ruby who was pouting as though someone threatened to take Christmas away.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"You just took down a fully grown Nevermore on your own and all you have to say is what?" Weiss threw at him sharply. Jaune's eyes widened slightly and he turned his head back to the downed beast. Wait a second, he did that!? Well, all he could really remember of the situation was a strange voice and an intense surge of power, but after that it was all drawing a blank for him. Was it possible that he could've really done something like that?"

"Yeah," Ruby exclaimed from Weiss' side, "You were all like blitz, woosh, slice! No fair, Jaune! I wanted to fight the birdy, too! Not too mention the acrobatic skills it must've taken to jump between the feathers like that!"

"Not really all that difficult on the jumping part," Jaune said, not particularly knowing where he got this information from, "The Nevermore's feathers are projectiles, right? So it stands to reason that they would be incredibly strong, strong enough for a human to stand on. Thank you for the compliment though and should we ever find ourselves in a situation where someone needs to cut off the head of a giant killer-bird ever again then by all means, you have the floor."

"What just happened?" Pyrrha muttered to herself.

"That was rather unexpected," Yang agreed, "Who knew Vomit Boy had it in him?"

"Riiight," Blake said, "Can we get out of here before anything more sinister comes along?"

"Y-yeah, good idea," Pyrrha agreed weakly.

Jaune, on the other hand, was discussing things with Ren, mostly that he was mystified by the strange way his sword had reacted during the battle, "It's never done something like that before."

"You said it was a family heirloom, right? Did your family speak much of it?"

"Only that every heir of the Arc family had wielded it. See, unlike most weapons, Crocea Mors has always chosen its wielders personally. However, my father always told me that I wasn't the right person to wield its power since it never awakened to me when I touched it before."

"Perhaps you were just never in a situation where you needed it up until now?"

"Yeah...maybe..."

Though, Jaune thought, Crocea Mors reacting like it did had only happened once his aura had been unlocked on purpose. Had...he really hated to even entertain a thought like this but was it possible that his father had purposely sabotaged Jaune so that he wouldn't become the true successor to his family name? His father didn't like him, that much was obvious, but to stoop low enough to ruin the rest of his life? Could he really believe the man capable of something so horrendously vile?

"Well, we'd all better get back to the Cliffs, I doubt Ozpin's going to wait around all day for us to finish our initiation," Yang said, "The chess pieces here are the relics." The blond took a golden castle and dropped it into Weiss' hand, then took the final remaining piece, a golden horse like her own and dropped it into Jaune's, "And now everyone has a relic. Let's get out of here."

Ozpin looked at his tablet upon seeing this and silently groaned, why? Why did she have to not put the chess pieces the opposit way? Now he was going to have to try and find a way to combine the team names when he'd practically already chosen them upon seeing the students launched. Well, the man supposed, it was his own fault for putting all of his eggs into one basket. He was really going to have to think on the spot about this one.

"Glynda..."

"What is it, Headmaster?"

"I need a refill, would you be a dear?"

The blonde-haired woman sighed, but collected Ozpin's mug for him nonetheless and moved to go and get the refill that her boss wanted. Ozpin, on the other hand, returned his gaze to the screen and a thoughtful smile crossed his lips, "Team names aside, I have a feeling that this is going to be an interesting year."

And so the initiation of this year came to an end. Jaune was still mystified on what caused his sword to take on such a transformation, but yet here they were. Whilst initially he had thought coming to Beacon might be a mistake and though the jury was still out on that, he was happy to say in the very least that he had not died on his first day.

" Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," the screen behind the stage displays the portraits of the four boys moving together until an initial appears between each of their names, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The four boys were stood lining up along the length of the stage, Cardin, the large and bulky individual dressed entirely in heavy armor held the most proud expression that Jaune had ever seen and he wasn't sure whether it was from happiness at being named leader or something more in line with overconfidence, but then again, only time was going to tell something like that.

"Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos, you collected the white knight pieces and from this day forth you shall work together as Team ABYN (Auburn) Led by Jaune Arc."

"Me?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

"Congratulations, young man."

Though the playful punch to his shoulder from Pyrrha should have jolted Jaune out of his stupor, he still was frozen in place. He had been chosen as a leader? What kind of nutcase was this Ozpin guy exactly? Deciding it would be in his best nature not to comment, Jaune retreated from the stage with Pyrrha, Blake and Yang in tow, oddly silent for someone who'd been so full of life only moments before. Had Ozpin only given him the spot of leader because of what had happened with his sword? Crocea Mors had reacted so oddly during the battle inside the Emerald Forest but Jaune thought that was hardly enough reason to make someone the leader of one of the Beacon Teams. That was just his luck though, faked his way into beacon, would've been happy to just cruise by and now here was, with some kind of magical sword and a leadership position that he had no business being in.

"Ruby Rose, Lie Ren, Nora Valkryrie, Weiss Schnee you all collected the white rook pieces and from this day forward shall work together as Team LVWR (Lavender) led by...Lie Ren."

Nora seeemed overjoyed at the selection of the team's lader, Ruby seemed happy too and Weiss for the most part, while disappointed not to be selected herself, Jaune thought the slight relief in her expression would've come from Ruby not being chosen as the leader. Jaune looked over at Ren, then gave him a nod. This nod was filled with much more confidence than Jaune felt, but he did feel a small rush of real confidence with the nod that was given back to him by the boy dressed in green.

"Very well," Ozpin said, tipping his mug back slightly, "Those are our new teams. First years, follow Miss Goodwitch to your dorms, I look forward to your future exploits. Good day."

"He never really sticks around much does he?" Yang said to her team-mates quietly.

"I think that might just be the very least of that guy's problems," Jaune muttered darkly.

Not noticing the smirk on his fellow blonde's face, Jaune turned his attention to the direction that Miss Goodwitch was now leading Team LVWR and quickly followed along. Pyrrha, Blake and Yang in hot pursuit, "Wait for us!" Jaune called out. Goodwitch still wasn't sure what the Headmaster saw in that boy, but perhaps things would become more clear in time as the year progressed. Her first Combat Class later in the week would be a good opportunity for her to get a decent first-hand look at all the potential this boy supposedly had. To produce a magical blade and kill a Nevermore on his own was one thing, but unless he could prove some consistency then she was positive that her doubts about the Arc boy would never truly be gone.

"Now that Mr. Arc's been kind enough to realize that we're moving, if you'll all follow me," she said aloud, a look of disapproval thrown in the direction of Jaune "We'll make our way to the dorms. Do try not to let yourself get sidetracked in future, you're a leader now, Mr. Arc."

Though he thought he might've misread the situation, he thought that he could see the ghost of a smile on the deputy headmisstress' lips. Jaune figured that she was one of those ones that would be on your side as long as you gave her one hundred and ten percent of your best-effort but the moment you crossed her? Well, you lived a nice life and all, but it's over now.

There's small chuckles around the group at Jaune's expense, save for Pyrhha who merely narrowed her eyes at the ones responsible, most notably team CRDL. She thought it odd that Cardin and his friends were laughing at Jaune already given that they'd not seen him during initation. That, had Pyrrha feeling a little bit smug. If those boys had seen the way that her leader had taken down that Nevermore, she doubted they'd have been treating him like this.

The few teams that had been formed walked alongside Goodwitch, following her from the Auditorium and out into the wide expanse of Beacon's grounds once more. There was a heavy silence that reined, but Jaune thought it might be down to the fact that this was perhaps their most important taks of the day. He couldn't imagine the levels of embarrassment that one might feel if they were to be left behind whilst searching for the dorms. Jaune felt a small vibration from Crocea Mors, but he chose to ignore it for the time being. The sword seemed to have a mind of its own and he highly doubted there'd be much of anything he could do if the sword decided to act out and do something.

The last time it'd done so, that had led to him pulling off some of the most complext moves he'd ever seen let alone produced. The intense speed, the way he'd rushed up the Nevermore's feathers as though they were stairs and to cap it all off, he'd cleaved the bird's head off as though it'd taken absolutely no effort at all. He'd known what it'd looked like to the others, but had it been his own skill that had taken down the Nevermore...or was it the sword itself? His attention went back to the direction they were moving in, his ears tuning back into what Goodwitch was saying-

"Now, your scrolls are keyed into the doors for your rooms and will function as the keys that unlock them," Goodwitch explained, "This ensures that only you and your fellow members are allowed to enter. Be that as it may, we expect those in co-ed dorms to act responsibly and use your discretion when entering your dorms. A knock on a door can sometimes be the difference between life and death."

The group rounded another corner and finally they approached a large building, Goodwitch opened the door by showing the infra-red on her scroll to the scanner and the group all pushed their way onward, moving through the first floor, "Team CRDL, Team METL," Goodwitch said, extending her hands to either side to indicate the teams rooms and then she moved along towards the staircase with Teams ABYN and LVWR following closely behind. Once the group had ascended the stairs, Goodwitch pointed ABYN to the door to the left and LVWR to the door on the right.

"Well, that's the tour done, I assume you'll all be able to manage getting yourself acquaintained with the school, classes will begin on the next Monday from now which will give all Teams a better chance of getting to know each other before we begin our lessons. If you have any concerns between now and then, please do not hesitate to contact myself or any of the other staff members. Dinner will be served in the cafeteria at six o'clock every night while lunch is at one o'clock in the afternoon and breakfast runs from seven o'clock until just before nine at which time morning classes will begin."

"Thank you for all your help, Professor Goodwitch," Ruby said brightly.

"Of course, Miss Rose. Now, why don't all of you get settled in while I go and relay this information to Team CRDL and Team METL?"

Jaune nodded once, "Thank you again."

"Don't mention it, Mr. Arc. Good afternoon, students."

They all exchanged goodbyes with the Deputy and she departed the top floor. After exchanging goodbyes with each other after this, both Jaune and Ren moved to the doors of their dorms respectively and unlocked them with their scrolls. Jaune's eyes widened upon seeing inside. It was a relatively normal room all things considered, four beds were strewn across the room at different angles and each of the beds had a desk at the end of them, which he could only assume was for all the theory work they were going to get throughout the year. Finally there seemed to be a wide arrange of storage options which Jaune could only assume was for their clothes and personal belongings, which from first glance seemed to have already been packed away for them including their new uniforms for the year ahead. The final thing he noticed was a lone door to the side of the bed at the front which he presumed must've led into the bathroom.

"Home sweet home," Yang declared, "After we put some ABYN touches on it of course."

"I think we should choose our beds first, Yang," Blake pointed out gently.

"Er, right..." The blonde bombshell answered sheepishly.

"Though, don't you think it's a little weird that they're going to just let us hang around for a week before classes start up? I mean...it seems like a waste of time if you ask me," Jaune said scratching at his chin thoughtfully, "Though, given that the Headmaster's a nutcase, I don't know what I'm really expecting here."

"Well, they kind of toss you in the deep end during initation and force you to pair with someone you've got no history with. This often times is a good thing, but at other times if an incompatible partnership exists, one that puts the entire team at risk then it's best to weed it out early. I've never heard of anyone needing to have partners switched but it could be a possibility."

"Why are you two complaining?" Yang threw at Jaune and Pyrrha, "We all get to know each other a little better and we get to chill out while all the second, third and fourth years are going back to classes and hell, maybe even missions."

"Don't forget that'll be us in a couple of years," Jaune threw back at her, a smirk curling up on his lips.

"Didn't realize that vomit boy had fangs," Yang threw back and the two of them shared a laugh.

"Well, suppose we should go around and do introductions anyway. Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tounge and-" Jaune wisely paused what he was saying after this. The introduction had made Ruby laugh, but he doubted it was something that he should repeat with everyone, let alone his new team-mates, "And I'd like to make the best of the next four years as I can. I may be an inexperienced leader but hopefully together we can become one of the best teams Beacon has to offer."

"Rehearse that in the mirror?" Yang asked him, still shooting a playful grin at the blond opposite her, "Cause I mean if you did, it' sounded a little cheesy, VB. Not that I'm complaining though. 'Sup everyone, I'm Yang Xiao Long. I hope we get along and VB?"

"Yes, Yang?"

"Eyes out of the bathroom when any of us girls are in there and make sure to knock when you're coming in or I'll take your block off, clear?"

"C-crystal!"

"Glad, we're on the same page!" she offered a grin, then looked toward Pyrrha and Blake expectantly.

"I'm Blake Belladonna," the black-haired girl said, "I want to stamp out the injustices in this world and rise to the top as a formidable Huntress."

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, and my true hope for the next four years is to forge strong, unbreakable friendships and move into becoming one of the best Huntresses that this Academy has ever produced with all my friends and especially my team-mates by my side."

"Well, looks like we're all acquainted then," Yang said happily, she reached into her pocket and removed her scroll, opening it up to its full size. She scanned the screen for a second then nodded, "Any of you got Ninja Madness Three?"

"Ninja Madness Three?" Pyrrha asked confusedly.

"My uncle's a menace at it, but I figure we'd all be a little more evenly matched."

"I've got it," Jaune indicated. He unfolded his scroll and connected it to the holographic screen that Yang had summoned. The voice on-screen then spoke up in a loud voice that could be heard throughout the entire room, "Burning Ninja versus Shining Ninja, begin!"

"Oh, you're so going down!" Yang exclaimed, quickly tapping the screen on her scroll where the corresponding buttons lay. Her bright features were accentuated by the smile she produced, the competitive smirk could have lit up the entire room in Jaune's eyes, however, he didn't notice it for his own gaze was intently focused on the fight before him, "Combo!" Jaune shouted, hitting in a complex sequence of buttons rapidly. His character on screen then summoned a sphere of blue energy which he slammed into the side of Yang's character, reducing the remainder of her health to zero.

"What the- how!? You're just as bad as my uncle!"

"Shining Ninja, wins!"

"You download it, yet P-Money?"

"I think so- does this look right?"

Pyrrha held out her screen and Yang chuckled, "Not quite right, but here, let me fix that right up for you." The blonde took Pyrrha's scroll gently and completed the download process for her then handed the scroll back.

"Sorry Jaune, but I'm going to be the one fighting Pyrrha. Seeing as you took me out, I doubt putting Pyrrha up against a player like you is a good idea."

"As if you're one to talk, you almost had me like three times, it sounds like the one Pyrrha needs to compete against here is Blake."

A silence then hangs in the room, it rests for a few moments and the dark-haired girl now seated in her bed merely raises the book in her hands, a quiet mutter of, "Sorry, but I'm reading," being the answer given. Jaune was a little disappointed that she felt the need to withdraw from them but at the same time he could understand being none too graceful in terms of social ability. Hell, it surprised him that he was doing so well socializing with Yang and Pyrrha. With the two of them now setting up the game so that Yang could teach her though, Jaune decided that it would be the perfect opportunity for him to try and reach out to Blake a little. He couldn't be too forceful, he knew what he had been like when his parents had tried to force socialization from him with other kids in his village when he was a kid. Suffice to say that it hadn't ended very well.

"What're you reading?" he asked the amber-eyed girl softly.

"You care what I'm reading?" she asked, her brow shooting up inquisitively.

"Sure," Jaune said with a shrug, "I have a profound interest in reading. Most people accuse me of being nothing but comics, but I love all manner of genres, comics just capture the attention visually and true novels capture the attention through ones imagination, personally I'm a big fan of the man with two souls. The internal struggle is not unlike the things that most people face on a daily basis. Two sides to a coin, two veering paths that the traveler's decision determines which one they take. I think that it has a lot of correlation to the real world even if it's not exactly what people might notice at first glance."

"Yeah," Blake nodded, genuinely both surprised and impressed by Jaune's thoughtful answer, even more so that he had already read the book that she was currenty perusing, she had a small smile that curved up upon her lips, "I'm reading that one right now, d'you mind if, once I'm finished we go over it and discuss it sometime?"

"Of course not," Jaune said brightly, "Though, leave it until then, I'd hate to spoil the ending for you."

"Yeah, you'd better not."

"She beat me!" Yang exclaimed in horror, "What is it with me and my horrible losing streak today!?"

"Spartan Ninja Wins!"

"I won? I won!" Pyrrha's surprised and happy exclamation followed this and Yang shared the smile with her near team-mate, offering a hand out and the two girls exchanged a shake. Both of their attentions were then drawn up to Jaune and Blake, the two currently smiling quietly at each other.

"Well, it seems we're all getting along just fine, aren't we?"

"It's grand!" Pyrrha beamed happily around the room.

"Wonder how Team LVWR is getting on?" Yang finished.

"You need to get your act together, you dolt!"

Jaune, Blake, Yang and Pyrrha all looked toward the door and all four of them heaved sighs at precisely the same moment. Well, they knew who that voice belonged to and if anyone was going to be the person causing difficulties for a new team to get along, then Weiss Schnee was likely to be the biggest candidate in this year's Beacon Intake, Cardin Winchester included.

"My guess is not very well..." Jaune pointed out, "Should we?"

"No," Yang said, shaking her head, "We have to let Ruby figure this out on her own. If she doesn't then she'll keep running to any of us the moment something goes wrong. She won't be able to do that out in the field so it's better that she and Weiss work out their differences without our interference so that Rubes can learn to stand on her own."

"Do you wish to go another round, Yang?"

"You're on P-Money!"

**_End Chapter_ **


	4. The Grand Tour

The week that they'd been given to get acquainted with their teams and the academy before classes begun had been a place of deep thought for Jaune Arc. On the one hand, it presented opportunity for teams like his own to get closer, but there was no doubt that it offered a potential slew of problems for teams that had already been shown to not get along so well. He thought that Team LVWR particularly would find this week difficult, owing to Weiss' difficult attitude. He knew he shouldn't worry about another team outside his own, but Ruby was his friend and he couldn't help but worry for her. Yang had been correct in saying that her little sister needed to find a way to fight her own battles, which meant as much as it ailed Jaune to do so, he was going to need to leave this one alone.

"Jaune?" a voice said quietly from the bed directly beside his own one, "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, Pyrrha. What's wrong?" he whispered back in an equally quiet tone.

"N-nothing really, I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Oh, goodnight then, Pyrrha."

"Goodnight Jaune."

Though Jaune could distinctly remember that all four of them had exchanged goodnights half-an-hour ago when they'd all decided to go to sleep for the night, he didn't begrudge Pyrrha for wanting to hear it a second time. Maybe she dealt with nightmares or something and needed reassurance that someone else was in the room? His sisters had been like that when they were younger, so it made a little sense to him. Jaune had been so distracted by these thoughts that he didn't notice said girl, who was lying with her back to him, smiling ear-to-ear, her emerald pools shining in the moonlight.

Deciding that he was ultimately better not worrying about everything tonight, it was time for Jaune to follow in the route of his new team-mates and get some sleep. He finally lay down and rolled over to the face the wall and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Jaune felt that the night had moved far too quickly for his liking. In his mind, it was like the moment he'd gotten to sleep, he was waking up again and though he was mostly rested, the partial grogginess that remained irked him enough to make the Arc more than a little frustrated. Seeing as none of the other members of Team ABYN awake yet was a relief to Jaune. Mostly because it meant as the early riser he could sneak in for a quick shower before anyone else woke up. Then it would be time for some coffee to deal with the remains of his tiredness. Jaune gently climbed out of bed and crept quietly toward the end of his bed and collected some clothes from the closet at the end of his bed. He chose a dark shirt and a pair of jeans, seeing as they didn't have classes for another week, putting on the freshly laundered Beacon uniform seemed like it would be a waste of time.

Besides, they hadn't been told to wear their uniforms, so who could be blamed for assuming that they didn't have to wear them until classes officially began next week? He shrugged again, which was weird to him that he'd done so, privately being glad that none of the others were awake yet, he finished his silent walk into the bathroom and gently closed the door behind him. Jaune quickly showered and dressed in the clothes he'd chosen, then quietly walked out of the bathroom and sat at the end of his bed. As much as he wanted to go for coffee right this second, the shower had helped with some of the grogginess and since it was their first day here as a team, he wanted to be polite to Blake, Pyrrha and Yang by waiting for them so that they could spend their first day together as a team properly. What he hoped would only be a little while longer turned out to be varying times. Blake woke up shortly after he did, Pyrrha a little while after that and finally two hours after he'd sat down on the end of his bed did Yang Xiao Long finally open her eyes.

Stretching out slightly, The Brawler looked toward the rest of her team, "Oh, hey, morning guys, sorry if I kept you waiting too long."

"Not at all," Pyrrha said.

"Don't worry about it," Blake said, not even looking up from the book in her clutches.

"It's fine," Jaune said, a shrug leaving his shoulders. They weren't in a rush for classes so what right did he have to begrudge the Brawler her sleep? None, really, but he had decided to wait for all of them before going down to the mess hall, so maybe he only had himself to blame for not having access to the sweet bitterness that was a morning coffee. Yang stretched her arms out above her head, then looked down to her team-mates, a bright smile on her face, "You all grabbed showers already?"

"Yeah," Jaune divulged.

"Indeed," Pyrrha added.

"Yep," Blake finished.

Yang nodded in confirmation to her team-mate's answers and swung her legs round to the side of her bed. She stretched out again and then ascended to her feet. She stretched again then turned around to collect some clothing from her wardrobe. Jaune had pulled out his scroll and brought up Ninja-Madness Three and pressed for the round to begin against an A.I opponent. Pyrrha and Blake had both taken a while for their showers this morning as most women did, so Jaune could safely assume he was going to get treated to the same ordeal with waiting for Yang to finish, so he figured playing a round or two against the NPCs would make the time go by a little faster, however he'd barely got to the versus screen when a set of emerald eyes slowly rose over his right shoulder.

"Heeyy Jauneee," the voice said slowly and gently, right befoe it turned to a high level of excitement, "Can I play?" Jaune screamed in a very un-manly fashion and if that wasn't enough went tumbling off his bed right after. He yelped at the feeling of the ground colliding with his side and quickly forced himself back to his feet. Ignoring the small snigger coming from the bed at the end of the room where Blake was sat, Jaune heaved a calming sigh then returned to sit on his bed.

"Sure, Pyrrha, let's play."

This girl is going to be the death of me!

Pyrrha's face, if possible, lit up twice as much as it been when she snuck up on him and she quickly pulled her scroll from seemingly out of nowhere and opened it up to Ninja Madness Three. The two players went to match up screen and selected their characters.

"Shining Ninja versus Spartan Ninja begin!"

The moment the game's announcer said begin, their fingers were off. Jaune's surprisingly nimble digits moving equally as fast as Pyrrha's did while gliding across the on-screen controls, both of them doing their utmost to try and gain the early advantage during the fight. Blake's bow twitched at the rapid sounds being produced and she lifted up slightly to try and get a look. Seeing what Jaune and Pyrrha were doing she merely smiled, shook her head at their antics and dropped back into her bed, her eyes returning immediately to the pages of the book infront of her. Maybe they weren't the quiet team she'd been hoping for, but these two and her partner were alright.

Blake was simply thanking her lucky stars that she didn't end up on the same team as that Schnee girl. She already hated how loud the arguments between the white-haired girl and Ruby were, she couldn't even fathom how much more painful it'd be if she had to share a room with the two of them. Her head turned just in time to see Jaune's hand fly up in triumph and Pyrrha's head drop in anguish, so she could only assume that Jaune had won the match between the two of them.

"Shining Ninja, Wins!"

"Not fair!" Pyrrha exclaimed, she lifted her head slightly and threw a full-on pout in the Knight's direction, her emerald hues widened a slight extent and had Pyrrha aimed this obvious puppy-dog look at anyone else, they would've crumbled instantly, but this was Jaune Arc. The man who had seven sisters, the man who-caved instantly to the look Pyrrha gave him the moment he saw it.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha," he tried gently, "Yang did warn you last night that it wouldn't go well if you tried to-"

"I demand a rematch."

"What?"

"You. Me. Fight. Now."

"Pyrrha, I'm not so-"

"I demand a rematch!"

Jaune sighed. He could see that no matter how much he tried to, he just wasn't going to weasel his way out of this one. That meant he would have to fight again and beat her. He knew that Pyrrha would instictively be aware if he tried to hold himself back her for her sake. What had he done? What had Yang done?

"One more round while we wait for Yang," he said firmly, "Then we're all going to breakfast."

"But Jaune-"

"No, buts, if Blake's being forced to come with us then so are you."

"I'm what!?" Blake interjected, this time she actually looked up from her book, looked up and turned a full-on glare towards Jaune with those golden-amber eyes of hers. Jaune almost withered beneath that glare, but he'd faced down the glare of Saphron Arc when he'd messed up previously and no glare, no matter who it belonged to would ever scare Jaune Arc that much ever again. It was the vision of nightmares, believe him.

"Coming with the rest of us," Jaune repeated, "This is a week to get to know your team."

Blake audibly whined, but Jaune decided to ignore it, he had a rematch with Pyrrha he needed to focus on. He took a deep breath then looked back down to the scroll in his hand as the voice of the announcer sounded through his scroll's speakers.

"Shining Ninja versus Spartan Ninja...Begin!"

Another round, another victory for Jaune and a visibly disappointed Pyrrha. He hated the disappointed look in her eye, but he knew this was the lesser of the two punishments. If he had gone easy on her, there's no telling what his new team-mate might've done to get back at him, one thing growing up with seven sisters had taught Jaune was that girls could be rather...vengeful if they were given reason to be and he had decided that he would like to avoid such a reality with the 'Invincible Girl' for as long as absolutely possible and if he could possibly manage it, permanently avoid one. Luckily for Jaune, the door to the bathroom opened and Yang strode out, which meant that Pyrrha's opportunity to yell 'Rematch!' again was stolen right away from her. Heaving a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding Jaune closed his scroll and looked around the room at all of his team.

"Everyone ready?"

Jaune, Yang, Pyrrha and, much to her reluctance, Blake, all left their dorm as a group. Small talk was exchanged between all four through their walk from the dorms to the mess hall and funnily enough they managed the trip without too much of a fuss, thanks to the campus map that Pyrrha had brought up on her scroll which they were able to refer to just to make sure they didn't get lost along the way. Jaune wasn't surprised to see the mess hall relatively empty when the four of them walked in. Yang had gotten up rather late, so it wasn't difficult to believe that a good majority of the students, older ones especially were already in class, or prepping to head out for their first missions of the year.

Team ABYN walked over to where the food was being served, filling their trays with what they wanted and then took one of the empty tables toward the back of the room. Jaune himself had chosen a plate of eggs with a side of bacon and some of the coffee that he had been desiring all morning. He took a small sip of the steaming liquid and exhaled a happy groan. Yang heard this and decided to have a little bit of fun with her new leader.

"Jaune, stop it!" she pretended to giggle, "We're in public!"

Jaune's cheeks flared, his eyes widening to the size of saucers and he whipped round shooting a surprised glare at the Brawler whom only returned the look in a mocking fashion and followed up by playfully punching Jaune in his upper arm. After he'd put the coffee down of course, she wasn't suicidal. She knew how some people could get about that stuff. Jaune had been wrong earlier, Pyrrha wasn't going to be the death of him.

This entire team was going to be the death of him.

Was it too late to switch teams with Ren? A sudden flash of the girl with the grenade launcher flew into Jaune's mind and he shivered involuntarily.

'Never mind. I'm fine where I am.'

Sure, his interactions with Pyrrha and Yang this morning had been a little dangerous for sure, but maybe he was being a smidge too unfair on Blake since she'd not really done anything to warrant concern, but, still, Pyrrha and Yang were definitely going to be the death of him, he just knew it. He rose the mug on the table to his lips again, taking another sip of the bitter liquid and this time he made entirely sure that no strange sounds were heard coming out of his lips. He had absolutely no desire to give Yang the satisfaction of having another opportunity to tease him. Jaune was so focused on the embarrassment he was feeling that he didn't notice a set of eyes glaring at the back of his head from behind.

"Where should we go and look at first? Some of the classrooms?" Pyrrha asked.

"Booooring!" Yang groaned, dragging out the 'o' sound, "We've got all the state of the art facilities Beacon has to offer at our disposal and you want to look at classrooms."

"Well," Pyrrha said defensively, "I just thought that it's important to know where they are...given that we only have a week to get used to their placement, we should walk there together as many times as necessary until we can get there without relying on a map!"

"Welll..." Yang said, still not seeming convinced by Pyrrha's idea.

"It makes sense," Blake added, coming to Pyrrha's aid, "Besides, if we go and look at the classrooms first, that means that we don't have to cut the fun side of the exploration short just to double-back and see the classrooms. Also, I want to go and see the library before too much longer. See if there's any books that I can borrow for when I finish this one. Jaune and I still have to discuss the finer points on it, but then I'm going to need to read something else once that's done."

The look Yang gave Blake was one that could be associated with her saying, 'Are you kidding me?' but she oddly didn't make a comment in complaint, what surprised her though was their leader's odd silence during this conversation. As leader, shouldn't the final decision be down to-oh, he was...still engrossed in the coffee. Everything made sense again.

"Whatcha think, ladykiller?"

Jaune flinched, not expecting to be addressed so suddenly, he was usually the one following when it came to things like this since his sisters often chose what they were doing and he had no choice but to go with it. He was surprised that they'd wanted to hear his opinion and though a little timid about it, he speaks up, "Well, if we go classrooms first, then library, then everything else, that means we've got most of the day doing the fun stuff as you put it Yang, we should have that to carry us through until dinner at which point we can come back here and hopefully be able to meet up with Team LVWR if they're here."

"That's...surprisingly well thought out," Blake agreed, "And easily incorporates all of our ideas into a fair system where everyone gets the most out of the day."

"You're pretty good at this whole mediation thing," Yang observed.

"Seven sisters," Jaune repeated for what he felt like the hundredth time. The rest of breakfast was a mostly silent affair with Team ABYN's leader wanting to focus on eating and his coffee more than engaging socially with anyone. All throughout breakfast though, the narrowed eyes that were trained on the back of Jaune's head never left them for more than a few moments.

"Well," Jaune said, "That's me finished."

"He's done!" Yang breathed happily, stretching out slightly, "What a relief!"

Jaune rolled his eyes good-naturedly and collected the trays from their table, taking this opportunity to get maybe a few seconds on his own, Jaune slowly got to his feet and walked away from his table, making his way across the cafeteria to return the trays to the kitchen. It hadn't been the easiest of mornings to get through with his new team's antics, but all things considered, Jaune thought it could've been worse. His only disappointment at the moment lay with the fact that classes being on hold for a week meant that while he got the opportunity to explore the school and get to know the girls of ABYN a little better, the one thing he'd not have much opportunity to do would be experimenting with Crocea Mors and trying to figure out what all the glowing was about.

When he'd gone up against that Nevermore in the Emerald Forest he'd summoned a strange blue aura around Crocea Mors, which should've been impossible since both he and the weapon were associated with the color yellow and there was no way that he'd been able to do that on his own anyway because of his...unfortunately...very low level of skill. Maybe he could've killed something much, much smaller and definitely not a Grimm that could fly...yet, he'd handled himself with ease and had been able to do it without exerting almost any effort. The trays were returned, yet Jaune's mind remained fixated on the idea of what'd happened during the fight with the Nevermore and he tried desperately to reach out and grasp for some kind of clue as to what it was. He wouldn't ask his father about it. He would never ask him about it ever again. Not after last time.

"So, Dad!"

"What is it Jaune?"

The voice that the man spoke with gave none of the enthusiasm his son possessed, none of the excitement that was there. His dull cerulean pools gazed at his son emptily, impatiently awaiting the boy's question, "I'm busy so you'd better make it quick."

"I was just wondering if I could learn some more about Crocea Mors while we wait for the time to be right for me to start training. Once I've got aura unlocked then I'll be able to fi-"

"I'm not going to tell you anything more about that damned sword, so stop asking about it! We'll train together when I deem you good and ready, not a minute before, is that clear? Now, go and see if your mother has any chores to do, try being productive instead of standing around and wasting air like that. Work can be done, so there's no excuse to be doing nothing."

That had been one of the more unpleasant memories for Jaune, the more of these memories that kept popping up involuntarily inside his brain only led Jaune to the conclusion that his father didn't want him to achieve his dreams. Now, some might think that he was perhaps just warning him or not wanting to talk about that weapon specifically, but it was like this. Every time he had mentioned wanting to be a Huntsman, his mother and father had stopped it at every turn. In the end only Saphron had supported his dream and in the end, she'd been the one to help him sneakout of the house long enough to go and find someone who could do up some fake transcripts for him.

Yes, it had partially been about following his dreams, but another big part of it was that he needed out from that life, he couldn't just live under their thumbs forever. He absolutely refused to. Now he had an opportunity, an opportunity to prove he could be so much more than what his parents believed and he wasn't about to blow it. He would figure out Crocea Mors, even if he had do it on his own.

"You ready to go?" Yang asked, approaching the door with Pyrrha and Blake in tow. Jaune nodded, deciding it best for the time being to let his thoughts focus on the day ahead with his team rather than trying to bury himself in the angst and feelings of resentment he had toward his parents. They weren't here at Beacon and he wasn't going to let them ruin his life anymore than they already had.

"Yeah, let's go and see what Beacon has to offer."

Even as the four of them were leaving the mess hall, the same set of eyes that had been watching Jaune all morning had once again srveyed him leaving the hall. Once the door had closed and Jaune was out of sight, the figure grunted as if they'd heard some brilliant joke then went back to eating their breakfast in silence. That is, until the person beside them decided to speak up.

"You been starin' at that Arc kid all morning, what gives?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

The doors were shut to the mess hall and Jaune looked over at his fellow team-mates, "So, if we're going to head to the classrooms first then we'll want to go and check out the classroom building, right?"

"Right," Pyrrha spoke up, taking this as the opportunity for her to bring up the map of campus on her scroll again, "It has several floors and acts as the base for all theoretical based classrooms. Grimm Studies with Professor Port, History with Doctor Oobleck, Science with Professor Peach and of course, Combat Class with Miss Goodwitch. There's more classes with other staff that come along later, but those aren't available for first years to take. I hear Ozpin even teaches a class for fourth years!"

"Pyrrha," Jaune asked her, "How did you know all this?"

"You didn't?" Yang asked Jaune, "Did you not come in for the open day? We were introduced to most of the staff here and given a little tour of the place. Nothing like the classrooms and stuff though, only the auditorium so we'd know where to go when we arrived our first day."

"Oh. I was sick, so I had to miss it."

That explained why he hadn't been able to acquire directions from anything on his first day. He hadn't known about the Campus map and since Ruby was attending Beacon two years early, it only made sense that she wouldn't know what was going on either. Well, that's what he got for faking his way in here.

"Well, you're here now and you've got us to show you around anyway which is way better," Yang punched Jaune's shoulder playfully then she looked towards the courtyard ahead of them all and begun to walk along, her team-mates quickly falling into step beside her. Jaune silently released the breath he didn't know he was holding. That had been a close call. If his fake transcripts came out into the open then he was a goner in all senses of the word. He'd end up all the way back in his village and end up as a Farmer or something. Something that Jaune Arc wanted nothing less to be. Farming was the least exciting profession in the world, in his opinion. Nothing beat the thrill of adrenaline pumping through your veins while you're fighting a Nevermore. Okay, so he'd only ever been in one fight, sue him, he was going to be in more and he just knew the only he could go from here was up.

"Jaune, are you listening?" Pyrrha asked, effectively cutting off the train of thought in the Knight's mind. It was something he could deal with later. He needed to put his attention where it needed to be right now.

"Sorry Pyrrha, was a little distracted, what did you say?"

"We've got to take the next left, then walk a little down this pathway to get to the classroom building."

"Cool, then let's go."

Another nod exchanged between Team ABYN, Pyrrha taking the lead since she had the map, the four of them advanced through the many paths of Beacon, stopping when they saw the grey-haired Professor Ozpin walking past them with a mug gripped in the hand not holding his cane.

"Good morning Professor Ozpin!" the four students said cheerily.

"And good morning to the four of you as well," he answered in kind, "How are the four of you enjoying Beacon so far?"

"Lovin' it!" Yang exclaimed.

"It is rather the interesting place," Blake added from beside her.

"It's grand," Pyrrha offered politely.

"Even bigger than in the pictures," Jaune said. The moment he said it, he internally face-palmed. Even bigger than in the pictures? Jaune the guy's going to think you're an absolute moron! Ozpin may be a nutcase, but still!

"Yes, though, that wouldn't be hard to achieve," Ozpin chuckled softly, then he turned down the same direction as the four members of Team ABYN were head, "I'm due to start my class with the fourth years in a few minutes, if you'd like I can show you the rest of the way and you won't be needing to worry about that map. I've been looking forward to the opportunity to talk to each of my first years this year. Especially you, Mr. Arc."

"M-me? Why's that?"

"Your family name interests me is all, I knew your grandfather a very long time ago. We worked together, you know."

"You did?"

"Indeed."

"D'you think you could maybe tell me about him?"

"Of course, Mr. Arc. I would be honored to discuss your grandfather, he truly was the great mystery was Bann Arc and an even greater mystery was the sword he carried with him. I believe it is currently in your possession?"

"Yes, I acquired it-I acquired it some time after he passed away."

"Hm," Ozpin said, if he knew any more on the subject, he did not mention it, instead he straighted up a little and pushed his glasses futher up the bridge of his nose before taking another sip from his mug, "Well, be that as it may, I think some of the things you will want to discuss with me are rather private and we shouldn't discuss them so openly where anyone can hear us. However Mr. Arc, I would just like it to be known to you that my office is always open if you should ever need it. The same goes to the three of you as well. I always have time for my students."

"Thanks Professor Ozpin."

"You're all welcome, now come along, before my fourth years get on my case about tardiness."

**_End Chapter_ **


	5. High Above The Ground

The tour had proved to be interesting, Jaune's original assumptions about the kind of campus they had blew him entirely out of the water. There were so many facilities here that he wasn't expecting and even more than that still. After going to the Classroom building they'd seen the library, which it'd taken about thirty minutes to get Blake out of, then they went and looked at the various training rooms, there was even a proper set-up so that teams could have training matches outside of combat class. Jaune thought it'd be a good opportunity to sneak here when everyone else was busy with other stuff. The glowing sword technique he'd used during initiation had been useful at the time but he doubted it was anywhere near reliable enough to constantly lean on it as a crutch. No, he was going to need to perfect it with time and effort, as well as bringing the rest of his fighting up to standard so that his own abilities could compliment that one instead of it being his only source of success during a match. Yang had wanted to use the training rooms straight away, but with some convincing, they were able to pull her away. No use getting into trouble for making a mess before they'd even had their first official class.

The day was slowly coming to an end and it was here that we rejoin Team ABYN on their way back to the cafeteria, smiles of varying sizes upon all of their faces. Yang's was by far the brightest. Jaune had dropped back from the group a little, the three other members of his team walking ahead of him the slightest amount while Jaune's head was turned to the sky, further alluding to the deep thoughts running through his mind. The group rounded a corner and completed their journey to the Cafeteria. Unsurprisingly, it'd been much more packed out than when they were here for breakfast, they'd been later than most this morning, so it made sense that it'd been emptier then.

Jaune, Yang, Blake and Pyrrha all collected their dinner from the cafeteria then they moved off to find a seat together. Ironically, the seat they'd chosen had ended up being a table shared by Team LVWR. Yang took the seat beside Ruby and Blake sat down beside Yang, while Jaune dropped down beside Ren and Pyrrha took the seat to Jaune's left.

"Hey guys," Jaune said casually, "How was your tour?"

"About what I was expecting," Weiss said neutrally.

Jaune thought he could hear frustrated sighs from the rest of Team LVWR but he decided to not comment on it and instead went about eating while listening to the others talking about their respective tours of Beacon went. All through the meal, conversations went around the table of everyone's time before Beacon, stories of all their exploits and what they got up to were being traded happily and Jaune couldn't help but feel like all of them were warming up a little to each other through this, even if Weiss didn't seem to be making any progress whatsoever. That wasn't his problem though, all things had their time, Jaune knew she'd open up to them eventually. No one could be that bitter for their entire lives when surrounded by such positivity, right? He didn't think it would be his right to intervene though, so Jaune resolved that he would say nothing to them for now.

He rslow drink of the contents inside. It'd only been a day, but he was happy that there was some progress for his team, which, for now, was enough. After the food was consumed, the two teams sat around talking for a few minutes. Jaune stood a moment later and collected his teams trays then headed up to hand them in.

"He takes all of your trays?" Weiss asked Yang, Blake and Pyrrha sharply, "What a suck up, but I suppose he's male, what else can be expected?"

"You'd better not be throwing shade at my leader for being nice," Yang said fiercely, her lilac eyes threatening to change color, her fist trembled violently, it took all of her self-control to not smash Weiss' jaw in then and there, but she didn't throw her fist. As much as she wanted to do it.

"I'm sure the only reason he's being nice to you is to try and earn favor, typical male mindset. Especially being on a team with three girls."

"Ladykiller's not like that."

"And what makes you sure of that?" Weiss countered, "You've known him a little more than two days. You can hardly call that enough time to know what a person's like."

"Pot calling the kettle black?" Yang fired back, "You've been nothing but horrible to my sister and yet I'm supposed to sit here and listen to you shading Jaune like you're some upstanding citizen? Give me a break, Ice Princess, maybe if you stopped being a bitch and got some real friends, you might actually find that not everyone has ulterior motives. You wanna keep up that attitude, fine, but don't drag the rest of us down to your level."

Weiss' only answer for this was a huff and she looked away from Yang, an intense look in her eye that the Brawler couldn't quite place. Jaune returned to the table, having no idea of the conversation that'd just transpired, he returned to his seat and smiled around the table, he was ready to take a seat, but Weiss and Yang were glaring at each other heatedly for some reason and he thought it best to break it up before a scene was made right in front of everyone at the cafeteria. He slipped his hands into his pocket then looked over at Ren, "Thanks for letting us crash your table man, will have to do it again sometime."

"Bye guys!" Nora exclaimed, "We should totally do this tomorrow!"

"I think our fates have been decided for us," Ren said sagely.

"You mind?" Jaune asked him.

"It's not a problem," Ren responded, a small smile lighting up his own face. The two of them exchanged a hand-shake, then Jaune turned to the rest of his new team, "Shall we go back to the dorm, or is there something else you guys wanted to do first?"

"I am satisfied to return to the dorms, Jaune, however, I must insist on something."

"What's that, Pyrrha?"

"You. Me. Ninja Madness."

Jaune's head fell forward as a groan escaped from his lips, "We've created a monster."

"I take no responsibility for this," Yang threw into the conversation before Jaune could throw her under the bus, this resulted in another groan and Jaune almost falling over in despair. Laughing between themselves, Pyrrha and Yang got to their feet, Yang moved over to him and sympathetically patted his back a couple of times, making a point to throw a smug smirk at Weiss from an angle she was sure Jaune couldn't see her doing it from. Blake, on the other hand, did notice and though she didn't verbalize anything, there was the sound of a sigh that left her lips. Somehow the Ninja didn't see this ending well. Determined to both rile up Weiss some more and tease Jaune a little, Yang promptly hopped up onto the Knight's back and laughed teasingly when she spotted his flushing face.

"Onward, horsie!"

"I'm filing for team abuse," Jaune groaned, nonetheless he hooked Yang's legs into his grip then looked back at Ren and the others, "Looks like I've been subjected to pain and torture, see you guys later."

"You too, Jaune," Ren said politely.

"See you, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed, waving to him, then she turned to shoot a stern look at her sister, "Don't break my first friend at Beacon, Yang," she told her sternly. Yang just grinned and teasingly hugged herself closer into Jaune's back, "Hurry up, Ladykiller, Pyrrha made destroy us both if I prevent her from getting that rematch."

Having ultimately resigned himself to his fate, and Yang's teasing nature, he merely turned on heel and began to walk out of the cafeteria, missing the dity glare thrown at him from Weiss entirely since he was entirely focused on making sure that he didn't drop Yang. She wasn't heavy by any means, but he had seen first-hand how her temper could be and dropping her was probably a sure-fire way of getting her riled up and ready to pummel him into next week. Now, given that she was doing it to give Weiss a hard time, one might've expected Yang to climb off once the whole debacle had come to an end once they were out of the sight of their sister team. By the time they'd done so, Yang felt so comfortable that she quickly realized that she had no intention whatsoever of moving until they got back to Team ABYN's dorm.

Jaune hoisted Yang a little higher a couple of times when he could feel her slipping down his back, but other than that it'd been a rather peaceful ride without too much issue. Pyrrha stepped ahead of the group and pushed the door open for them, "Next time, I want to ride back from dinner on your back," she declared, "Not fair that Yang gets our leader all to herself." There's a pout on Pyrrha's face and Jaune chuckled, not sure whether or not Pyrrha was joking about that. He had no idea why that would be suddenly desirable, but thinking it a joke, he decided to let it go for now. Once inside their dorm room, Yang gently hopped down off Jaune's back and thumped him in the shoulder playfully.

"Thanks for the ride, ladykiller."

"No p-problem, Yang."

"Better not let P-Money reserve too many spots for rides either got it? I'll want another."

"Y-yeah, sure," he laughed sheepishly again, then turned his head just in time to see Pyrrha bouncing on the balls of her feet, already with scroll in hand as she looked at him with such intensity that Jaune couldn't have been blamed if he was found thinking that Pyrrha had just been offered a mission with Ozpin himself. Hey, the guy was a nutcase but he was still Headmaster of Beacon and that carried some weight with it.

"Alright, alright," he conceded, pulling his own scroll from his pocket and sitting down on his bed. He unfolded the scroll, then loaded up Ninja-Madness Three. Pyrrha swiped her scroll over his to connect the infra-red scanners then she dropped into her own bed, the one ironically opposite Jaune's own and the match screen was displayed, "We should have a battle royal," Jaune said, looking over to Blake and Yang, "The games fun, and Blake's always reading about Ninjas so she'll probably have fun with it too."

"I'm not really a video-games person, Jaune."

He turned his pout that he'd mastered, thanks to his little sisters' then dialed up the crocodile tears in his eyes to about an eleven. Within a moment, Blake pulled out her scroll with a groan, "Fineeee," the 'e' sound being dragged out all the same, "But only one match. I want to finish this chapter before bed." Jaune threw his hands up in victory, then settled back, they'd have to wait a little while for Blake to download the game, so they were at a stalemate until then. Sure, they could've started a game between themselves, but Jaune didn't feel it would be fair to make Blake wait if her download finished before their match finished.

"Who's guitar is that?" Yang asked, looking over at the Acoustic leaned up against the far wall of the dorm room. Jaune's eyes widened, he hadn't realized that he'd left it out. He thought he'd gotten it out of sight before they'd seen it, well apparently not. He sighed some, then looked over at Yang and said, "Mine."

"You play, lady-killer?"

"Oo, please sing for us sometime!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"I don't know..."

"How about we make a deal, make this a little wager on our game."

"Oh?" Jaune asked, but leaned forward slightly to indicate that he was listening.

"If Pyrrha, Blake or me can beat you then you have to play something for us."

Jaune was silent as he considered this, he'd easily beat Yang and Pyrrha on their own, but there was no telling if they'd just team up to get rid of him so that he lost and he had to give in to thweir demands. He wasn't worried about Blake seeing as this would be the first time she played the game, but the other two teaming up could pose a problem. Though, playing for them wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Still, that didn't mean he was going to go down, not if he could help it.

"Okay, that's what I'm putting on the line, but what happens if I win?"

"I won't bug you about anymore rematches on Ninja Madness for a wee-for three days."

"You almost said a week," Jaune informed Pyrrha.

"I didn't finish it, Arc, it doesn't count! I will beat you in one-on-one ninja combat if it's the last thing I do!"

Jaune sighed, knowing that three days was the best offer he was going to get, he decided to accept it. Three days was long enough that it would almost carry them through to classes and he'd only have to worry about it for another three days after the three of the deal went past. Once classes started up they'd have less time on their hands and slowly as the year progressed free time would become a thing of dreams, so as long as he could deal with this for a little while, he'd be fine..probably.

"I've finished downloading," Blake informed her team-mates.

"Cool," Yang said, hopping up onto Blake's bed beside her, "We might want to throw up on the big screen given there's four of us."

"Good idea," Jaune said and he tapped a few buttons in on his scroll. A beam of light shot out the end and a moment later a big screen displaying the match screen appeared before them. Blake logged in her character details as Pyrrha and Yang rejoined the game. Jaune took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. They opened a moment later and he quickly nodded as the match screen was replaced by the game-screen.

"Shining Ninja, Burning Ninja, Spartan Ninja, Vanishing Ninja, Free-For-All, Begin!"

Jaune's hands glided easily across the screen as he quickly willed his avatar across the battlefield, starting off with some rapid combos to Yang's avatar then he dropped back to a more strategic position ready to make his next move until...

"Killing blow! Shining Ninja, Burning Ninja, Spartan Ninja eliminated, Vanishing Ninja wins!"

Silence reigned throughout the entirety of Team ABYN's dorms, Blake, who had claimed to have never played the game before just...just wiped the floor with them. Jaune looked up toward Blake in bewilderment, much like Yang and Pyrrha were, but she shrugged, "Beginner's luck I guess, but you don't have to play your guitar around us if you don't want to. That's something I imagine is quite personal."

Jaune thought about Blake's words for a moment, trying to look past the big pouts that Yang and Pyrrha were shooting toward him. The silence was finally broken by Jaune shaking his head and then saying, "A deal's a deal, I lost and what kind of leader would I be if I didn't keep my word?" He closed his scroll, this caused the screen to disappear then he walked over and collected his guitar from the wall. Jaune returned to his bed and lay the guitar across his lap. He strummed a few times just to check it was still in-tune, then once he'd confirmed this, he gave a note.

"Ready?" he asked them.

All three nodded and Jaune closed his eyes, his fingers gliding across the guitar strings a little faster now, picking up the definitive tune of a song, there was a moment's pause then Jaune's heavy voice broke through the silence, a strangely powerful melody leaving his lips, " _You and I both, we come from different worlds. I'm a small town kid and you're an uptown girl._ "

There was a hitch in Pyrrha's breath she wasn't expecting. That...that was unlike anything she'd ever heard before. Jaune's voice...it put all the other singers she'd heard to shame. She wasn't biased at all toward her leader, nope not at all. Though she couldn't help but wondering who this girl was that he was singing about and why she had the inexplicable urge to punch them in the face. Pushing those feelings down for now, she tried to focus on the sound of Jaune's voice instead.

" _We've both been hurt, we got a few scars, but it don't matter now, we're staring at the stars._ "

Yang felt her breath hitch at the next line, it was a feeling she understood too well. It perfectly described her life to some extent. Not so much from the perspective of two lovers, but from being in a place where pain and hurt are common. Her life had of course brightened up in the last few years but she knew that one day she'd have to track her mother down to fully grasp the truth.

" _When it comes to my heart you gotta catch and fall, deep down in my soul I know that I would die_ -" A small sigh escaped Jaune's lips and he moved the guitar away from himself, looking toward the girls' apologetically, "Sorry, it's not quite finished yet. I've been working on it for a little while now, but since I've never really been in any sort of relationship, it's difficult to find the words."

"Don't apologize," Blake said, quickly cutting him off, "It sounded really good and who knows, maybe someday you're going to meet someone who's fully capable of helping you find the words to finish it."

"Who, Weiss?"

Blake giggled, which Jaune decided was a sound he definitely wanted to hear again, Pyrrha made a similar sound which gave him the same thought about hearing it again. But, if anything, it was Yang who had the best reaction in his opinion, she stood up and playfully thumped him on the shoulder, though Jaune did feel like this one was a little bit heavier than the last few times she'd done it.

"Should you end up with Weiss," she said, "I'll know that you've truthfully lost your mind and need to be renounced as Team ABYN's leader, pending immediate placement in a mental facility. She's not even a nice person to begin with, I doubt she'd function much better in a relationship."

"Yang...Yang, joking."

"I...I knew that," she said, waving him off. She didn't want to bring up what happened at dinner. She may have slipped on that he was joking, but Weiss was a piece of work. Someone who'd both treated them all awfully and bullied her younger sister. She wouldn't let Weiss hurt either of them. The Ice Princess could say whatever she wanted to herself, but she'd be damned if she let her ruin Ruby and Jaune's time at Beacon. Jaune stood from his bed and returned the guitar to its spot on the wall.

There's a smile on his face as he looks down at the instrument, he doesn't look away, but he does speak aloud, "I'm in no rush to find the person who completes that song, for now, I just want to focus on becoming the best leader that I possibly can and this team achieving everything that we can, together."

"We'll take on the world!" Yang exclaimed.

There's a laugh shared between the occupants of the room and Jaune moves to the center of the room, extending his fist out, "Then it's settled, from here on out we'll have each other's backs."

"Even against darling Weiss?" Yang asked, a smirk on her face.

"I knew that joke was going to bite me in the ass."

"I'm sure she's nice," Pyrrha said, but quickly changed her tack when she saw that Yang was glaring at her, "Deep...deep down."

Yang laughed, but she also moved into position and put her fist against Jaune's, "You do realize how cheesy this looks, right? Not to mention kinda childish too..."

"Need I remind you who hitched a ride on my back like a five year old not even an hour ago?"

"Touche."

Pyrrha, on the other hand, was so excited that she almost tripped over when she approached the group and would've fallen over had it not been for a timely rescue by Yang and Jaune who quickly made sure she was able to keep her footing, "I'm sorry," Pyrrha whined.

"It's fine, Pyr."

"Pyr?" Yang asked him.

"Well..."

"I like it," Pyrrha said sharply, cutting off any argument that might arise from the sudden nickname, she hadn't had one before and wanted to make sure that she was able to keep it. She beamed with happiness and placed her fist against both Jaune and Yang's. Blake rolled her eyes, but she too, soon approached the group and lightly touched her fist against her team-mates'

"Then it's Team ABYN, one for all and all for one."

They held their hands like that for two more seconds and in the end it was Yang who pulled away hers first, "My god was that dorky, are you sure you killed that Nevermore on your own Jaune, it wasn't your cool twin brother or something?"

"Oh shush, Yang," Pyrrha chastised her, "I for one thought it was a strong show of team spirit! A perfect way to set the stage for my rematch with Jaune! Ninja Madness shall not be denied!"

"Ninja madness has been denied," Jaune said, trying to emulate the tone that he'd heard Ren use with Nora. Pyrrha was acting like a hyped-up sugar monster and thus, she would be treated like one. Thankful he'd been raised with seven sisters when Pyrrha turned the pout up to eleven, he merely shrugged and got up off his bed, grabbing the towel hanging against the door handle of his closet.

"I'm going to wash up before heading to bed, but we should come up with a plan of what we're going to do tomorrow."

"Well, since we've looked around campus, it might be a good idea to head into Vale, we'll need a tour of that place so that we know where to come when we need dust and things like that, plus it'll be a good chance to familiarize ourselves with the area we're living in too."

"Is that allowed so early in the semester?"

"Yeah, it was all spoken about during open day. I keep forgetting that you weren't here for that. We can go into Vale from day one as long as we don't do anything that could bring any kind of bad reputation toward the school. Other than that it's pretty chill," Yang finished.

"Vale it is then," Jaune agreed, pushing the bathroom door open, "Right, see you guys in a few minutes."

Jaune entered the bathroom, then closed the door behind him. He immediately tossed the towel onto the vanity and looked into the mirror, the happiness that had been resting on his face back out in the room disappeared instantly and soft sigh escaped his lips. They'd all hit things off so quickly. Much more than he'd imagined. He hadn't known about the assignment of teams in advance for obvious reasons and he couldn't help but feel like he'd lucked out being on this team. He couldn't help but wonder though, would everything change if they knew the truth? Another sigh left his lips, there was no use worrying about that now. Jaune peeled off his shirt and began preparing for his shower.

Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's office at Beacon, Ozpin had just peeled open a manila folder that was in front of him. There was a single piece of paper with a photograph of a blond individual within it. In the man's grip was the very same folder of one of his new students, Jaune Arc. He sighed, once again reading over the transcripts inside. He knew they were faked, right from day one he knew, but he hadn't intervened nor attempted to dissuade Mr. Arc from attending Beacon in any way, shape or form. However, he also knew that Jaune had what it took, the extenuating circumstances caused by the boy's family, especially his father, had placed the boy in an unfortunate position. His eyes glinted at the little explanation he'd put on the bottom of the page.

In reference to Mr. Arc's unique circumstances, I have decided despite the initial setback of Mr. Arc's faked transcripts to allow him admission into Beacon Academy under the school rule number eight hundred and forty six, sub-section alpha, letter-section b. Anyone who shows up at Beacon Academy on the day of initiation whether they possess transcripts or not, should they survive and complete the initiation then they shall become fully-fledged students at Beacon with the same opportunities afforded to everyone else.

Despite Ozpin's interference, he knew he would have to punish the boy. He couldn't have everyone doing this all the time. So, what was his punishment going to be, you ask? A smirk coated Ozpin's lips as he once again lifted the steaming mug to it. He just simply wasn't going to tell young Mr. Arc that he'd fixed his problem for him.

Back in Team ABYN's bathroom, Jaune had just finished with his shower and had changed into a simple pair of black pyjama trousers and a sleeveless black shirt with the Arc symbol upon the back of it. He exited the bathroom a moment later, finding that all three of the other members of his team had all changed while he was showering and were all now relaxing in bed in different ways. Yang was flicking through her scroll, Blake was reading and...Pyrrha's hands were attacking her Scroll as though it'd done her a personal offense.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked her gently, "You okay?"

She didn't look up from her screen, but answered verbally with, "Peachy, Jaune! Just twelve more experience points until I reach level four!" Her fingers sped up a little bit and Jaune leaned up so that he could see the screen and he internaly paled.

"Pyrrha...is that Spectral Kingdom?"

"Yes, yes it is. It's a rather splendid game if I do say so myself. Do you know of it?"

Knowing what Pyrrha's competitive nature was like, he wasn't looking forward to the answer he was going to have to give her, "I used to play it a lot before coming to Beacon," he admitted slowly and fearfully, "I got to about level ninety before I stopped."

"L-level Ninety?" Pyrrha said faintly.

"Yeah."

"Y'know, maybe we could all play together sometime?" Pyrrha asked him cutely.

Jaune knew he was dooming himself, but his resistance was crumbling and he didn't bother to fight it this time, Spectral Kingdom was a fun game and at least they'd be working together instead of being pitted against each other, "Alright, but only if we can convince Yang and Blake to play as well."

"You know I'm in," Yang said, "I used to play Spectral Kingdom as well, I didn't get to level ninety like King Gamer over here, but I put some decent hours in. It might be good to set up something like that so that we're not on missions and our assignments are done we have something to do on the Weekends if we're tired from a mission or the weather's just too crappy for us to go into Vale."

"What d'you think Blake?" Jaune called up to her.

"As long as you'll give me some time to read throughout these times, I see no issue with it."

Jaune nodded, then he finished the walk to his bed and peeled the covers back. He climbed into bed and then pulled the covers back up over himself and settled into the bed, a content smile on his face, "Night girls," he said.

"Night-Night Jaune."

"G'night, Lady Killer."

"Night Jaune."

Blake's usually impassive expression now displayed the smallest of smiles, she pulled her blankets up over her and slipped the pencil back into the binding of the notebook. She immediately looked down at the image on the page before her gaze. It was incredibly well-drawn and depicted Jaune in the middle of the scene, with Yang playfully thumping his shoulder and Pyrrha laughing at them from Jaune's other side, though she seemed to have mimicked Yang with the playful punch as well. Blake's depiction was standing slightly behind them but she had a smile similar to the one worn now whilst looking at the drawing. Beneath it were the words 'Team ABYN, Beacon, First Day.' Blake silently closed the book and re-sealed the locking mechanism, then slipped the book under her pillow and seeing as the lights were closest to her bed, she flipped them off.

"Night Pyrrha, Night Yang."

"Night-Night Blake, Night-Night Yang."

"G'night Pyrrha, G'night Blake."

Jaune's eyes felt like they'd opened as soon as he'd closed them, sleep the previous night had been much easier and he felt completely rested from the day before. Happily, he stretched some and pushed himself up into a seated position in his bed. The bathroom door opened and Pyrrha walked out dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, brown boots and a red tank-top beneath a black leather jacket.

"What d'you think?" she asked him.

"We're not going to wear our combat gear?"

"Well, we could, but why not just enjoy the day and not worry about the coming term? It might be our last chance to have a bit of fun before everything starts getting hectic and what better way to get to know each other is there then spending time in the city like normal teenagers would? I know you sounded like you wanted to handle things from a professional stand-point last night, Jaune but it's not a crime to have fun. I now have friends who genuinely want to be around Pyrrha Nikos the girl, and not Pyrrha Nikos the champion. I fully intend to enjoy that for as long as I possibly can."

"That's...a good point. Wait, where's Blake and Yang?"

"Oh, they said they'd meet us there, something about a surprise."

"Why does that scare me?"

**_End Chapter._ **

**_Well, there's another installment. I was in stitches the whole way through, so don't take this chapter too seriously, it was mostly the bonding mentioned in my pre-chapter AN. Overall I'm glad people wanted me to continue with the week of them spending time together, I'm having so much fun with it. Next chapter will cover the surprise and a couple other things during the trip to Vale, as well as ABYN getting closer. Well, that's all from me folks. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. See you on the next one. Oh and a final note, the song partially sung by Jaune this chapter is 'High Above The Ground' by Daughtry._ **

**_Well, thank you again!_ **


	6. The Man In White

Now dressed in his outfit for the day, Jaune straightened the jacket he was wearing and stepped out of the airship that had just touched down in Vale. He had managed not to throw up on the journey and was immensely thankful for this. He reached out to grip the side of the wall and a heavy sigh tumbled from Jaune's lips. He felt Pyrrha's concerned eyes on him, but neither he nor the Spartan said anything regarding Jaune's situation. Jaune imagined it was rather unimpressive for Pyrrha to see what her leader had been reduced to thanks to a simple ride in an Airship but he wasn't going to comment on it if she wasn't. Would make things less awkward in the very least.

Jaune's hand moved onto the pommel of Crocea Mors, a spot he found oddly comforting to rest his palm, yet he had never really pinpointed the reason. Given that it'd only started feeling comfortable since he'd started attending beacon, perhaps it was because of the innate power possessed by the strange weapon and being closer to it could've possibly made him feel more protected. He turned his head back to Pyrrha and offered a smile, "They send you a message to let us know where they'll be meeting us?"

"Yes," Pyrrha answered immediately, "Outside a cafe in Vale called Vanilla Delights."

Jaune hadn't heard of that place before, but then again, his village hadn't been close to Vale and places like cafes were still a little foreign to him. His hands naturally moved to rest at the back of his head and he turned his gaze in front of him. The station was as one might expect, mostly white in coloration with several seats placed sporadically around the area. Towards the end of the bay there was a small building that Jaune could only assume was the ticket vendor, behind that though was the important spot for him and his team-mate, the exit.

"Well, I suppose we all had the right idea planning this trip," he said once they'd finally stepped out into the open area of the city, "This place is huge, we should've got our hands on a map or something. Do these people not think of Beacon students outside of the kingdom?"

"Er, yes, they do," Pyrrha interrupted him gently, she held up her scroll, "The internet is a thing, Jaune."

"Er, right," he answered her sheepishly. Well, that probably made him look extremely stupid now, didn't it? Trying not to sigh too loudly, Jaune's focus turned to Pyrrha herself. This was the first time that the two of them had spent time together individually and save for the recent...mishap, he really wanted to take the opportunity to get to know his team-mate better. Smiling some, he fell into step beside Pyrrha and asked, "You're from Mistal, right? What made you decide to come to Beacon instead of going to Haven?"

"That disappointed to have me on your team, Jaune?"

Jaune's face heated in embarrassment, he was so busy flailing his arms in indignation as he tried to come up with a response that he didn't notice the tiniest of smiles that had crept its way onto Pyrrha's lips. She playfully punched his shoulder, hoping to capture his attention, "Jaune... Jaune I'm joking."

"Er, right."

"The truthful answer is that," there was a sense of uncomfortability on Pyrrha's face and Jaune slowly moved a hand from the back of his head to the side of Pyrrha's shoulder. Her brows shot up and she turned his head to him, only to find a bright smile aimed in her direction.

"You don't have to tell me if it makes you feel uneasy. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything like that."

"No, no it's fine," Pyrrha tried to reassure Jaune, "I chose to come to Beacon because everyone in Mistral has an opinion of me and who I'm supposed to be. I just got tired of being on such a pedestal. Do some real good in the world as a Huntress... but the biggest reason I chose Beacon over Haven was because I was hoping it'd lead me to find friends who saw me as myself rather than Mistral's Invincible Girl."

"I see," Jaune answered, "Well, I know we've not known each other for very long but I consider you a friend and you're definitely cooler than some champion I've never even heard of." Jaune had barely finished speaking, his legs fell out from underneath him and a small yelp of alarm tumbled free from his lips, "What the-"

He was on the ground, that was one thing he'd registered immediately, but the rest of the scene didn't register with him until a couple of seconds later. Pyrrha Nikos was currently hugging the life out of him. Had she just hug-tackled him in the middle of Vale!? By the looks of it, she most definitely had.

"You alright, Pyr?"

She nodded, yet Jaune didn't get any indication that she was going to let go just yet. Shaking his head, he hugged her back, to which the Spartan smiled at and they released each other a moment later then both returned to their feet following this.

"What was that for?"

"Well, no one's ever said that to me before," Pyrhha admitted, "I don't think I've ever had a friend who didn't want to use me for money or status before and it's somewhat overwhelming. I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize," Jaune rebuked, "I'm happy to be your friend, just preferaby don't hug-tackle me into the pavement next time. Not all of us are invincible girls." The final piece of his statement was said teasingly, which luckily, Pyrrha caught onto. The two of them would the fall into a companionable silence as they headed deeper into Vale, with Pyrrha's eyes occasionally drifting back down to her scroll to ensure that the two of them were on the right track. A few minutes later they would finally approach the cafe. Jaune thought it was a quaint little place with cream-colored exterior walls and a bright atmosphere within that shined so brightly Jaune almost felt like it was pulling him into the depths of the feeling even from this far away.

"There you two are!"

Jaune's head whipped to the side, and there they were. Yang was outfitted in denim booty shorts, a yellow tank top and yellow, black and white high-topped shoes. Her aviator sunglasses were currently rested atop her head. Blake on the other hand was dressed in tight black skinny jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt, finishing up her look was a pair of knee-high brown leather boots.

"Took you long enough," Yang bemoaned, "What were you doing?"

"Jaune didn't wake up for another half an hour after you left," Pyrrha said.

"Thanks for tossing me straight under the bus, Pyr."

"If you're going to be taking three pretty girls with you to Vale on a regular basis, We really need to work on your etiquette," Yang teased Jaune, elbowing him in the upper arm, "Though, I'm surprised you clean up so well. I was expecting vomit all over you in the very least and over poor Pyrrha at the worst-case."

"I only get the worst of the motion sickness on long trips," Jaune explained, playfully returning her shot with one of her own, which illicited a smile from the Brawler, "Besides that, my etiquette is just fine."

"Are you sure about that?" Yang fired back, "I'm not sure it is..."

Jaune laughed again, but he didn't answer her. This teasing and banter of a dynamic that had developed betweent the two of them in such a short while was still odd to Jaune, no matter how natural it felt. They seemed to be able to bounce off each other with such ease. Having that kind of energy on the team was rather refreshing, each of the girls brought something unique to Team ABYN and Jaune couldn't help but feeling like a fish-out-of-water at being chosen as their leader. He, who had faked his way into Beacon. He, who had done nothing of great mention in his life before. Okay, sure, he'd slain the Nevermore during initiation on his own but Jaune wasn't entirely sure about that either.

Right before the incident had occurred, he'd felt the sword vibrating and once the Nevermore had been slain, whatever power that had been released from Crocea Mors had vanished, along with the vibrations that had been present the entire time he was within the confines of the Emerald forest. He needed to learn more about the sword and its secrets. Seeing as he couldn't talk to his father about it, he knew he was going to have to speak to Ozpin at some point. Had the sword intervened on his behalf to preserve his life? Jaune had so many more questions than answers right now and he hated it.

"So, what's this surprise that Pyrrha told me you two were planning?"

"Nope."

This surprised Jaune, but he shrugged, the way she popped the 'p' was familiar to him, perhaps he'd heard Ruby use the word in such a fashion, was it a family thing? He had to wonder. Well, if Yang wasn't going to tell him then perhaps he could get it out of...nope, Blake's stern look was definitely an indication that he wasn't going to get anywhere as far as this was concerned. So, it would seem that he would have to wait until they were ready to reveal it for the time being.

"Now that we're all here, it's time for Team ABYN to finally set out and discover Vale," Yang declared, "First things first, we need to-"

"Coffee," Jaune responded simply.

"Are you serious, Lady Killer?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

Yang sighed. Given the state of ABYN's leader at breakfast the previous day when it came to coffee she had no doubt that Jaune was being one hundred percent honest. In the end she finally relented, knowing it was probably better to deal with this now so they didn't have to stop later. She folded her arms over her chest, heaving a sigh at the same time.

"Fine," she relented, "Let's go."

The cafe they'd all met up at would serve as the best spot to go, Jaune thought. They were here already after all. He led the group across the front of the cafe, a beautfifully decorated exterior dotted with various styles that reflected a comfortable atmosphere. There was also a quality which reminded Jaune of something he couldn't quite place his finger on, yet he was happy that the quality was there nonetheless. After a quick breakfast and the coffee that would prevent Jaune from being a pain in - I mean from feeling lethargic and uninspired for most of the day, Team ABYN left the cafe again and started walking the streets of Vale.

"Y'know, maybe it's cause we're early, but I was kind of expecting Vale to be busier," Yang observed, "It's usually just people as far as the eye can see. Wonder what's going on?"

"Don't ask me," Blake shrugged, refusing to elaborate further, though Jaune could pick up the slightest trace of relief in her voice. Did she really detest people enough that she was elated when they were scarce in number? He hadn't had much experience with Blake as a person yet, but taking her body language into consideration, Jaune could guess that was exactly how Blake felt. Naturally, The Arc's hands found their way onto the back of his head but he remained silent and didn't offer an opinion on the subject.

"Hey get back here! Stop Thief!"

The sudden shout drew the attention of the four of them, Jaune included as they spotted the figure running into the distance from the doorway on the left-hand side of the street closest to them. Pyrrha, Yang, Blake and Jaune all simultaenously sighed, knowing that none of them were going to be able to leave this alone even if they wanted to. Jaune became very aware that Crocea Mors hadn't started vibrating yet like it had in the Emerald Forest, but he saw no reason to worry. The power would come when he needed it and the situation would be easy from there. Maybe the sword's strange abilities would be enough to gloss over his own shortcomings and make him seem like a student deserving of his position.

Jaune Arc would soon come to realize just how wrong he was.

It'd started out ordinarily enough. They'd all drawn their weapons and gone after the thief, hoping to get their hands on him before he disappeared with the items he'd stolen, but the man had proven to be much more resourceful than any member of Team ABYN had given him credit for. He'd led them all on a chase through the streets of Vale, past the shopping district, past the industrial sector and all the way out to the docks. He hadn't been able to give them the slip entirely...but the length of the far longer than necessary chase had Jaune giving a rather large internal groan at the developing situ-

"Well, well what do we have here?"

The figure moved into the light, his beady black eyes narrowing in the presence of the four students. He was roughly two heads taller than Jaune from what he could tell, though this man had far broader shoulders and a particularly large reach. His outfit consisted of black leather trousers and a black shirt beneath a white leather jacket emblazoned with a symbol upon the right hand side at the front. This image depicted an 'M' contained within a hexagon with three lines with circles on the end of each. One was placed at the top, another was a section down from that and the final was on the final diagonal piece on the left toward the bottom.

"Anyone recognize that symbol?" Jaune hissed to his three companions.

"Nope," Yang hissed back, popping the 'p' slightly.

"It looks...familiar," Pyrrha murmured quietly, more to herself than her team-mates, "But I can't quite place it."

Prior to Blake being able to offer her own thoughts on the matter, the man straightened out to his full height and clenched his fists tightly, "You kids really shouldn't be here. Buzz off."

"We will," Yang countered, "As soon as your little pipsqueak of a friend gives us what he stole from that store."

This was enough to make the figure laugh, it wasn't a true laugh that would come from a joke of any kind though, Jaune thought it sounded very sarcastic as if he was daring them to try and do something about it. Yet, he still hadn't felt any vibrations from Crocea Mors yet, though he hadn't really done any research on it yet...so were the vibrations and that transformation even necessarily connected? At the very least, he could buy the others some time to escape. It didn't matter how powerful this guy was, his sword had allowed him to take down a fully grown Nevermore single-handedly. There was no way in hell that a human would be able to stand against it.

'Well, here goes nothing!'

"Jaune, what are you doing?" Pyrrha asked him sharply, but she'd barely got the words out of her mouth and Jaune was off again, sprinting as hard as he could towards the figure upon the other side of this makeshift battlefield.

"Not this again," Blake groaned.

Jaune clenched Crocea Mors as tightly as his grip would allow, willing with all of his might for the blade to undergo the same transformation as it had in the Emerald Forest. However, unlike with that day, there was no shimmer, not even a tremble of power. It was as if the sword was leaving him high and dry in his hour of need. He wouldn't allow it to show on his face, but a rush of fear ripped through his spine and Jaune felt his heart rate almost double from the panic. Why? Why wasn't it transforming? This wasn't how this was supposed to go!

"It's...it's not changing..." Yang observed, "Something's not right."

The panic on her leader's face also convinced her that something needed to be done and in that split second she made the decision to intervene. She'd held Pyrrha back during initiation but this was different, this time...this time Jaune wasn't in control of the battle. Heck, he wasn't even in control of his own weapon. Sure, Pyrrha was stronger and it would be better to send her to fight, but Yang was faster and Jaune was top priori- she was too late.

The strange figure side-stepped Jaune's incoming attack so easily it looked like it'd been done in slow motion, he was balanced, poised and ready to strike from the moment the kid had rushed in like an idiot and now he was going to teach him a lesson about stupidity. After rolling around Jaune's blind-side to avoid the blade, the man clenched his gloved hand and immediately golden metal unfolded from the glove, covering more and more of the man's arm until a rather large gauntlet had formed over the man's forearm. A trio of draconic-looking fingers erupted from the end tipped with large-blades where the claws would've been on an actual beast and then the only sound across the entire battlefield was Pyrrha's scream of horror.

Jaune's eyes widened, then he dropped.

The strange figure side-stepped Jaune's incoming attack so easily it looked like it'd been done in slow motion, he was balanced, poised and ready to strike from the moment the kid had rushed in like an idiot and now he was going to teach him a lesson about stupidity. After rolling around Jaune's blind-side to avoid the blade, the man clenched his gloved hand and immediately golden metal unfolded from the glove, covering more and more of the man's arm until a rather large gauntlet had formed over the man's forearm. A trio of draconic-looking fingers erupted from the end tipped with large-blades where the claws would've been on an actual beast and then the only sound across the entire battlefield was Pyrrha's scream of horror.

Jaune's eyes widened, then he dropped. The surprise at the bulkier man's speed evident on the Arc's face. However, it wasn't so much the man's speed that had gotten to him it was the fact that he'd pulled such a powerful weapon out of nowhere...This was no common street thug. Well, looks like it was the end of the road...and everything went into darkness right then and there. The figure released a dark chuckle, then turned his attention to the three girls, "Not much is he?"

Yang went to take a step forward, but a red blur sped past her before she could even get a footing into her fighting stance. Pyrrha had kicked off, lunging at the figure at speeds much higher than usual. Though it was almost entirely unnoticeable to the naked human eye a faint outline of blue aura had surrounded her form, the same that was currently around the blade of Crocea Mors. The ground had completely shattered underneath the Spartan's foot upon her kick off, indicating the increase of power she'd yet to notice that she'd received.

The man in white chuckled softly, Then he crouched some and readied his gauntlets once again.

Clang!

Metal clashed against one another, Pyrrha's Milo meeting the golden metal of the figure's Gauntlets sent sparks throughout the entire battlefield, yet as with Jaune, the figure seemed unbothered by this. He chuckled some, "Well now, you're more skilled than that loser at least. I was worried this was going to be boring."

"Don't you dare insult him again," Pyrrha said coldly, the sapphire trail around her body increasing as her anger rose. Crocea Mors thrumming in response from Jaune's waist. Her emerald irises gaining the slightest traces of the blue around the edges now.

"I'm sorry about picking on your little boyfriend kid, don't worry you'll join him in death soon enough."

Blake had moved from her spot and rushed over to the fallen Arc, immediately she checked for a pulse to make sure that the blow hadn't finished off, then she looked down at the wound and gasped softly. It was deep and she had to do something quickly. Without thinking too much about it, she ripped off part of her outfit at the waist and used it to cover the wound, applying enough pressure that she hoped it would stop the blood. With Pyrrha and Yang no doubt focusing on the fight one of them had to make sure their leader stayed alive. Sure, she wanted to charge in as badly as the other two, but they'd deemed to defend Jaune first and she would instead focus on making sure that he made it out of this mess alive alongside them. Though, it became quite obvious that Jaune had made some bold attempt at charging forward to serve as a distraction so that the other three could make an escape.

"Idiot," she murmured.

The man went to swing again, but Pyrrha raised Akuo, blocking with ease. It was an entirely reflex move, carried out without much conscious thought. Yang finally got over her stupor and charged in, Ember Celica rolling over her wrists as her own gauntlets expanded into their battle form. Crocea Mors thrummed again and Yang's body was slowly coated in the same glow that Pyrrha's body had gained and her lunge increased in speed mid-launch. Yang swung her fist as hard as she could and it inched closer and closer toward the man's face until...All three of the fighters were launched back by a gust of wind. Yang and Pyrrha were able to stay standing thanks to the help of whatever the trail of blue light around them was, but the other figure ended up smashing into a container on the other side of the docks.

"What the-"

Crocea Mors' light around the two girls finally faded, however they were yet to notice this because their attention was elsewhere. Flowing silver hair had appeared at the other side of the docks. A young woman who looked only two or three years older than themselves stood in the entrance way of the docks. Her cold violet eyes glared at the dent in the shipping container the man had flown into.

"You'd better get your friend out of here," she said calmly, "I'll take it from here. You've all done wonderfully, but I'm afraid if you leave it much longer your friend isn't going to make it."

The woman reached to her waist and unclipped a short sword from he back of her belt and immediately readied herself for the battle ahead, "Go!" the woman ordered. Her gaze still on her own task, "He doesn't have much time!"

Overcoming the shock they were all in, Pyrrha, Yang and Blake all rushed over to where Jaune's fallen form was and quickly positioned themselves to collect him, "Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine," she assured them, "It'll take more than one goon in a white coat to stop a fully trained Huntress."

A loud groan emitted from one Jaune Arc's lips as his cerulean pools slowly opened up once more. He could barely remember the events of the past twenty-four hours, aside from a lot of pain that is. His vision came into focus and Jaune realized that he was an entirely unfamiliar place, yet it seemed quite nondescript, aside from the fact that everything was bathed in white or grey and there was several beds lining the walls...he was in an infirmary of some kind?

"There's no need to panic, Mr. Arc, you're inside Beacon Academy's infirmary."

Jaune's head lifted slowly to come across the form of someone he'd only met in passing before. Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch was stood beside the office to the infirmary discussing something with, what Jaune could only assume was the head of medical staff here at Beacon.

"H-how did I get here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, a sigh dropping from her lips, "However, given the predicament that you were in I suppose you wouldn't have any choice but to remain ignorant of your situation. Miss Nikos, Miss Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna brought you in. After the encounter you had in Vale two days ago."

'T-two days!? The hell did that guy stab me with!?'

"According to a Huntress that dealt with the situation after you fell unconscious you were attacked by a rather unique weapon that ignores the existence of aura entirely. In essence, it can break right through it as if it doesn't exist."

"That sounds...dangerous."

"And yet you thought it wise to charge in there with absolutely no idea what you were getting yourself caught up in? Wanting to stop the situation is all well and good, but you didn't even wait to ascertain what the enemy was capable of and charged in like a blundering idiot."

"S-sorry Miss Goodwitch. It won't happen again."

"It better not," she said firmly, "You've been accepted into a school that takes only the best and therefore you need to act like it."

"Yes ma'am," he nodded.

Goodwitch didn't see it, but Jaune had felt the impact of her words rather heavily, particularly the last point about being accepted into a school that takes only the best. He wasn't accepted, he'd just lied about it and got in on those lies. So far he'd done nothing but get by on either the prowess of others or the sheer dumb luck of Crocea Mors kicking up and saving his ass whenever he was in such deep trouble that he would've died without the swords help. However, he didn't have much time to consider this, since something else the deputy headmistress had said that caught his attention.

"Miss Goodwitch, you said that weapon was unique, I know you said you didn't know much about it...but is it possible that there might be others like it?"

Ozpin was right, though he's not much of what I was expecting there is potential there. He must be wondering...Though, how much should I tell him? Ozpin would likely prefer me to relay as little information as possible...but...

She sighed, knowing she'd been put into a difficult position, she didn't want to lie to her student but she knew the importance of secrecy, given Arc's limited abilities right now, it would be dangerous to give him any more information than absolutely necessary, "I am not entirely sure, it is rumored that there are seven of these weapons in total, though this is the first instance of one's existence being proven to my knowledge."

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch."

"You're welcome , now I must take my leave and if the Nurse clears you to leave you may do so as soon as you're discharged. Good day."

The moment Goodwitch had exited the room, Jaune's thoughts immediately went back to not the thoughts about the weapon that had stabbed him, but the other things that had been said and it hit him, perhaps even harder the second time the thoughts hit his brain. He didn't belong here. He was fooling himself by coming to Beacon, his father had been right about him from the very beginning and as much as that hurt to admit, Jaune knew it to be the truth. He'd come here to try and prove the man wrong but where had that gotten him? Not even the first day of classes and he'd already been on the brink of death. If that wasn't a new record he'd eat his sword.

Jaune had been so distracted by his internal thoughts that he barely heard the nurse saying he was allowed to leave if he felt like he could walk. He stood up from the bed and took Crocea Mors from its spot leaned against the chair beside his bed and clipped it back to his waist. A sigh left Jaune's lips and he exited the infirmary in silence. Now one might expect that Jaune would've gone straight back to the dorms in search of his fellow team-mates, however he did not. Instead he made his way to the one place he knew he could be alone without anyone bothering him. It took some effort to slip past unnoticed but he managed to do so and ended up on the roof of the dorm building.

He immediately looked down at the sword strapped to his waist and sighed.

Why didn't you come to the rescue? Why didn't you jump in when it was needed? Was it just to teach me some harsh lesson about relying on you to solve all of my problems? That skill is earned not given?

"Look at me," he said ruefully, "I'm talking to an inanimate object. I'm losing my mind."

'Correction the day I made the decision to come to Beacon was the day I started losing my mind. Today's the day I've lost it entirely.'

The hours went by, but yet Jaune didn't leave the rooftop, he merely remained up there, ending up seated at the edge of the rooftop with his feet dangling over the edge. He wished he had his guitar with him so he could at least play a couple of songs to keep his mind off things, but without it, he supposed he would just have to make do. He didn't necessarily like singing without an instrument but seeing as he didn't want to face his team-mates right now, this was going to be the best he could do for now.

" _I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known, Don't know where it goes, but it's only me and I walk alone. I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams. Where the city sleeps and I'm the only one, and I walk alone. My shadow's only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating, Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me, 'Til then I walk alone. I'm walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind. On the border line of the edge and where I walk alone. Read between the lines of what's fucked up and every thing's all right. Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive and I walk alone._ "

Jaune released another heavy sigh, he leaned back and placed his open hands against the rooftop, looking up the bright sky, the shining sun taunting him, as if mocking his melancholic mood with how happy the backdrop seemed. Perhaps it would be best for him to go to Ozpin directly and admit that his transcripts were fake. He'd get expelled for sure, then he could go home and give up on this ridiculous idea. His father had been right the entire time. He wasn't cut out to be a Huntsman, not even in the slightest.

"You done being sorry for yourself yet?" a voice spoke from behind him.

Jaune cerulean pools widened and he turned his head back slightly, surprised to find them coming to rest upon the form of Yang Xiao Long, but what was less surprising was the glare on her face. Well, he'd been entirely useless in that battle so he couldn't say that he blamed her for being angry at him.

"I would think," she said, without giving him the chance to answer, "That after such an injury and almost dying would maybe qualify for you looking for your team-mates, your friends after leaving the medical ward, friends I might add who were incredibly worried about you. But instead you're up here avoiding us instead making us worry more."

"How did you-"

"I was heading back from the training facility when you walked through the hallway."

"Oh."

"Oh? Is that all you have to say!?" Yang's lilac eyes were threatening to shift into crimson, her anger rising by the second. This...This idiot! How the hell could he not see how worried about him they'd been. How distraught Pyrrha had been, how Blake had point blank refused to talk to anyone, okay that was normal but still, Yang knew she'd been worried about Jaune, it was in her demeanour. How it'd taken Ren, Ruby, Pyrrha, and two rather burly second years named Fox and Daichi to hold her off from quite literally murdering Weiss when she'd had the indecency to make a comment about Jaune's injury which had been less than respectful. Yet, he was...She sighed, using all her willpower to rein herself in so she didn't just punch him off the roof.

Instead she shook her head and took a seat beside him instead, "You're not any less of a person because you lost one fight, Jaune. Even Pyrrha and I couldn't put a scratch on that guy. I think you're being too harsh on yourself, besides, look at what you did in the Emerald Forest!"

"T-that wasn't me, Yang."

"Wasn't? Of course it was, did you bump your head when you fell?"

"I don't know how to explain it...but Crocea Mors...my sword, it intervened when I needed it to. I've never won a fight in my life outside of that sword helping me take down that Nevermore. Before that, the boy on the airship, the loser who puked on your shoes on the air ship to Beacon? That's me. Dead last, as dad used to say. I do not deserve to be the leader of this team and even more than that I do not deserve to be at this academy."

"That's still a bit too harsh, ladykiller. You got into Beacon just like everyone else did, that's gotta count for something, right?"

"Ordinarily yeah," Jaune admitted, "But I didn't get in like everyone else."

"Huh?"

Jaune sighed, "I got my hands on some fake transcripts, I didn't get in like everyone else, I just lied. I wanted to prove to my father that I could do something to prove him wrong about me, but I have been proving him right this entire damned time! I'm a useless idiot who doesn't know the first thing about combat. My dad, My grandfather and his father before him were all heroes and I just...I just wanted to be like them!"

"You still can, just let your team help-"

"No!" Jaune snapped, his eyes flickering with a shimmering blue around the cerulean for a single moment before they returned to normal, "If I can't do this on my own then it means nothing! I'm done being the damsel in distress who relies on others or some magical sword that I barely understand!"

Yang didn't say anything for a moment, nor did her anger increase, She gave Jaune a few moments of silence, then she shook her head and thumped him on the arm. There was some of the useful playfulness there, but there was also a modicum of something a little more serious.

"You done?" she asked, "Jaune, everyone needs a little help sometimes. Hell, Ruby would still be an extreme novice if it wasn't for our Uncle Qrow, and there's no way in hell I'd be anywhere near the level I am now without my dad's help. Admitting that you need help sometimes isn't a weakness, Jaune. It's a sign that you're willing to learn, to improve. As for your transcripts, well, they're null and void now anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"It's to do with initiation, a very old rule, but one that still stands. Transcripts are only the first part of the process, to weed out the weak of will and all that. However, if you can get past the initation with or without transcripts then you're officially counted as a student of Beacon. No one can do anything about it. I mean sure, you'll be frowned upon a little bit if anyone finds out, but unless you do something monumentally stupid they can't kick you out."

"They can't?"

"Nope. Also, stop acting like you're the only person in the world who's had to do something underhanded for the right reasons. It doesn't make your methods any less wrong or whatever. But at the end of the day, I'm guessing from the little you just said about your father that you wouldn't have been able to come to Beacon in another way, so who cares? Just let Pyrrha, Blake and I help you."

Jaune hesitated, his gaze still on the skyline.

"Look at it this way," Yang pressed on, "How would you feel if it was one of us needing help and you could help, but we were unwilling? Don't bullshit me either, your whole saving people complex wouldn't let you leave it alone and you know it."

Jaune sighed. He hated how easily she hit the nail on the head. Had it been on of his team-mates or literally anyone else in this position and needing his help, he'd jump at the opportunity to help and it would be very hypocritical of him to deny the help that Yang and potentially Pyrrha and Blake were offering him, when he would expect them or whoever else to accept the help he offered.

"I see where you're coming from."

"I won't pretend that it's going to be easy, between classes and homework we're going to be busy as it is, adding this means you're going to have to work two-to-three times harder than everyone else at Beacon Academy, but I guarantee you that if you're willing to put the work in we'll get you to a point where you're where you should be or even further along, because even at such a low skill-level, that fight with the Nevermore proved you have a raw talent for this and have just been lacking someone to hone it. Whether it was you or the sword in control, the fact your body can move like that proves you can get to that level of skill on your own someday."

Jaune was silent, but the steady determination in the young man's eyes spoke volumes. He was willing to do anything to prove that he could do this. Not only to prove his father wrong, but also to prove to himself that he deserved to be here. That he deserved to follow his dream just as well as anyone else. He was a little far behind, but that didn't mean he couldn't catch up. There was also the fact that Goodwitch had said that the person they'd fought had a special weapon able to break through aura, which meant he really shouldn't have let it get to him as much as it had. Sure, the weapon didn't change how lacking in skill he was, but still, it felt a lot better knowing there was literally nothing else he could've done in that situation.

"Now," Yang said, interrupting his thoughts as she returned to her feet and offered him her hand to help him up, "If you're done feeling sorry for yourself, I think that Team ABYN would like it's leader back."

Jaune reached up and took the offered hand, allowing the Brawler to pull him back to his feet. There was a silence that fell between the two, however Jaune didn't feel like it was an awkward or foreboding one. He fell into step beside her and the two of them walked back inside, heading into their dorm in silence. They crossed the hallway and Yang stepped back slightly, allowing Jaune to open the door, knowing full well what was to come next. The moment the door opened, Jaune was met by an intense stare courtesy of one Pyrrha Nikos, who said nothing, but she merely got up from her desk and approached him. She waited a moment then reached up and clutched his shoulder gently.

"I'm glad Yang found you," she finally said quietly, "I was worried, the fact that you've got so much aura...for it to broken through as though it were nothing...that was quite a shock. To think that someone so powerful exists..."

"It's not him," Jaune said.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked from her bed, her amber eyes had softened at the sighting of their leader, and as much as she wanted to go over and confirm he was real like Pyrrha had done, the information he presented was a little more important and a proper reunion could wait for now.

"That weapon he was using, it has a special ability that can break through any aura in a single strike."

"That...that's insane," Pyrrha murmured, "But...That's kind of resembling to your Crocea Mors, Jaune. Doesn't it also have a special ability to turn into that giant blue blade?"

"Among other things, I'm assuming. Wait, you think they're related to one another?

"I mean, the abilities are completely different of course so I might be jumping the gun, but-"

"They're both incredibly powerful with unique abilities that go beyond ordinary customization," Jaune finished for her. This, combined with the small amount of information he'd gotten from Goodwitch further reinforced the idea of the two weapons being related to each other somehow. He didn't know how...but maybe in between classes, homework and his training with the girls, he could work on researching more about the weapons. Perhaps he could just ask the headmaster directly. Okay, maybe he would be better off leaving that particular idea for a last resort if he couldn't find anything on his own.

"There's also something I need to tell you both," Jaune said, "It's about my acceptance into Beacon."

Both Pyrrha and Blake had reacted the same as Yang had, much to Jaune's surprise. Even more surprising was that they were just as willing to help with his training as she had been too. Though, stepping back to look at it objectively, the four of them working and training together as a team would only further to reinforce how well they worked together and not only that, unlike training with someone individually, Blake, Pyrrha and Yang would be training against each other as well, meaning that the three would gain something from these sessions as well and not just be stalling themselves to make sure he got to an acceptable level.

Still, it surprised him that his teammates had been so willing to accept what he'd done. He'd expected for them to be at angry at the very least, or drag him by the ear directly to Ozpin at the worst. Though, knowing the rule about initiation now, he doubted the headmaster would've expelled him. For now though, he had to appreciate that Team ABYN had formed the foundations for a strong and powerful friendship bond that would never be broken.

"Enough about that," Yang spoke up, "we can all talk about drawing up a training plan for the next couple of days, but for now let's all enjoy the last little bit of relaxation we'll have before classes start up."

Blake finally slipped down off the top bunk and approached Jaune in silence. Once close enough in her opinion, she quickly moved into a better angle and quickly shot her fist into his stomach, "That was for making me worry."

A loud groan left the Arc's lips and he fell to the ground a moment later, Blake reached out a hand and Jaune hesitantly took it. He then was pulled back to his feet and finally the Ninja placed her index and middle fingers against his forehead, she said nothing further but the wordless exchange between the two of them had spoken all that needed to be. Blake then backed off again and returned to her bed, quickly picking up her novel from where she left off.

Jaune exhaled a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding in, then looked over at Yang who merely gave him a silent nod and reached over to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly much like Pyrrha had done. Feeling comforted by all of the gestures, okay maybe not Blake's punch so much, but still. It warmed his heart to know that they cared about him so strongly despite their short tenure as a team. Maybe some people just clicked naturally? Either way, there last day before classes was tomorrow and he was determined to make the most of it. His new friends had proved that they wouldn't abandon him and now it was his turn to make sure they didn't regret making that decision.

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The figure moved through the shadows, pushing his way through the darkness until he reached the light at the end of the hallway. His dark eyes flicking to the man standing at the end of the room. The room he'd stepped into was large, circular and entirely white. Several cages containing Grimm lined the walls and several sections of the flooring as well. Science tables were seen dotted around the room as well. At the end of the room, a lone figure stood turned away from the man who entered and even at the sound of the man's footsteps he didn't turn around.

"Malach," he said calmly, "Did you retrieve the artifact?"

"Unfortunately not sir, there was some interference in the form of a Huntress. I managed to give her the slip, unfortunately I could not pursue the artifact. However, I found something you might be far more interested in instead."

"Oh and what might that be?"

"I've found another piece of Excalibur, Doctor Merlot."

The figure's head turned finally, revealing an aged face currently wielding a satisfied smirk on his face, "Is that so?"

**_End Chapter. Song Jaune sung part of this time was Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams.  
Peace out, see you on the next one, folks._ **


	7. The Pendulum Swings

Night had finally fallen over Remnant, the day had come to close and that meant that most of the students of Beacon Academy had retreated to their dorms leaving one Headmaster Ozpin to have a place within his office where he could keep an eye on a piece of paper in front of him whilst slowly sipping at the liquid contained within the mug he'd gripped in his hand. Things were accelerating far faster than the aged man had ever anticipated. Perhaps it was his great misfortune for the situation at the docks to develop the way it had, but two pieces of Excalibur crossing in battle was never a good sign. The moment Crocea Mors and Draco Bracchium met, he himself had felt a pulse reverberate through his cane and ultimately it served to inform him that things were moving ahead.

"This is proving to be rather troublesome, isn't it?" he murmured to himself.

"Headmaster?"

Ozpin's head rose from the scrawling mess of notes upon the paper in front of him, his sunglasses covered eyes rising to meet those of Goodwitch's and seeing her forlorn expression, Ozpin heaved a sigh, "Not good news?"

"Mr. Arc asked a lot of questions, about Excalibur specifically. I must admit that despite his lack in skill...perhaps I was wrong about his potential. I have to ask, what is it you're hoping to achieve by involving him in this? There's no way this is merely one of your whims."

"All will become known in due time, Glynda."

Goodwitch sighed, though she'd expected this answer it didn't make hearing it said any easier. Ozpin had always been good for hiding things and well, this was just the latest in a long string of events which would lead together. She wouldn't have ever expected a man as secretive as Ozpin to show his hand, especially not so early into the piece. One thing that Ozpin's secrecy made blatantly evident however, was that Jaune Arc was much more important in the grand scheme of things than anyone could imagine.

"What of the piece, did we manage to obtain it?"

"No," Ozpin said, "Regretfully, whoever this fighter was, they were no amateur. Our agent's job was to make sure our students made it out of there safely. Personally I'd much rather have four students returned to me alive than any of the pieces."

Goodwitch had to agree with that, as important as recovering the pieces of Excalibur were, that was a secondary to how important the lives of their students were and as far as she knew there was only three pieces currently in circulation. The Arc Family's Crocea Mors currently in the possession of Jaune, The piece that resided within Draco Bracchium and finally the piece that resided within Ozpin's cane. There was still four more pieces that were as of yet unlocated and could very well be anywhere.

"However," The Headmaster continued, "We must err on the side of caution. No doubt the wielder of Draco Bracchium has realized that now possesses a piece of Excalibur."

"You think that means he'll try to kill Arc again, don't you?"

"I am almost absolutely certain."

"And you're intending to use him as bait in order to get more information?"

"Not entirely, we need to be prepared. We need to make sure that Mr. Arc is safe. That our enemy can not get their hands on another of the pieces. If they do, our job will become a lot harder and I've no intention of allowing that to happen."

"What will you have me do?"

"Contact the others. It's time they were informed and I would rather have our allies close by than away from us at that point."

"Very well, headmaster."

Once Goodwitch had left the room, Ozpin moved away from his desk. The elder man slowly lifted the mug in his grip and took a drink of the liquid inside as he crossed his office towards the large darkwood panel on the opposite side of the room. He pressed a hand to it and muttered something causing the wood to melt down at Ozpin's touch, revealing the treasure hidden beneath it.

"Our enemy must never discover that we have the only remaining weapon of Legend not to be shattered by war or ravaged by time. For when the pieces are reunited, the holy Blade Excalibur and the holy spear, Ascalon will ultimately be what turns the tide of this hidden war. I will do what I can to protect the only one capable of wielding Excalibur...but I must also find someone capable of wielding Ascalon willing to stand alongside him."

[x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x]

The final day before classes came far more quickly than Jaune had expected and, he realized, far too quickly for his liking. Perhaps that was down to his injury and the subsequent time he spent unconscious in the medical ward, but he really wished he'd gotten more of a chance to spend time with his team before all of them lost a considerable amount of free time because of classes. Jaune had come to the realization that between Beacon's classes, his training with the girls and the homework they'd all no doubt have to deal with, he wasn't going to have much free time for the foreseeable future and whilst that bothered him a small amount, he also realized that this was the life he'd always dreamed of living and now, as someone who'd been given the chance to live that dream, it was no right of his to complain the moment things proved to be a little more complicated than he was expecting. He'd wanted this and now he was going to have to prove that he was just as willing to earn it as everyone else was.

The Arc slowly pushed himself up out of his bed and silently padded towards the bathroom, intent on hopefully not waking any of the girls up for this would be the last chance any of them had to grab a sleep in for a while-only, once he'd fully come to, he noticed that neither Blake, nor Pyrrha nor Yang were present. Instead there was a note left for him on his desk that read:

Hey, Ladykiller.

We figured you'd need a decent and proper rest in your own bed after being in the medical bay for the last few nights. You looked pretty peaceful and none of us wanted to wake you. Would've left you a coffee or something for when you did wake up but wasn't sure if it'd go cold by the time you did so just ping one of us on your scroll when you do wake up and we'll make sure we grab some when we're out in Vale or from the cafeteria if we're back before you wake up.

Just putting the finishing touches on that surprise we were discussing before this entire mess happened. I'm going to stop here though, before this entire thing turns into a novel. See you in a few. - Yang.

Well, he had wished he could go into Vale with his team, but given that they were apparently finishing putting together the surprise and that he was still injured from everything that'd happened, he doubted that a trip to Vale was in the cards today or anywhere in the near future. He chuckled to himself slightly as he looked down at the bandages covering his stomach and shook his head. They hadn't even officially started out as Beacon students and here he was, getting injured before the first bell had even rung. After a quick shower, made difficult thanks to not being able to get his bandages wet. He'd managed in the end but it wasn't a comfortable experience by any means. Jaune dressed in a pair of casual jeans and pulled a black hoodie out from his belongings and pulled it on over a plain grey shirt that he'd decided to wear as well.

A sudden crash from outside the dorm caught Jaune's attention and he immediately opened the door to see what the commotion was. Of course, he wasn't surprised to find that the source of the commotion was related to Team LWVR since they were the only other team on this floor, but he was slightly surprised to find that the source of the commotion was none other than the resident Ice Princess herself, Weiss Schnee. Unfortunately, Ruby had yet again been on the receiving end of Weiss' ire and in that moment Jaune didn't particularly care for letting Ruby fight her own battles. Sure, she needed to learn that just like everything else in life, but this wasn't learning to work with someone. Weiss was being insufferable and for some reason it looked like her leader was unwilling to deal with it.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Jaune?" Ruby said, leaping back to her feet, using her semblance to dart at him and she stopped suddenly, "You're okay! Yang didn't really tell me much, so I'm glad that my first friend at Beacon is looking to be doing much better."

"Isn't he your only friend?"

"That's one more than your zero," Jaune countered, not even missing a beat, "people don't tend to like girls with bitchy attitudes who are so self-serving that they won't give anyone a chance to show their own skills and such."

"No one asked you, you're not on this team."

"And be thankful that I'm not," Jaune shot back, "Because if I was? I'd have put in a request to have you kicked off my team already. You're being so insufferable to people and there's not even been one class yet so none of us have had a chance yet to really see what we're all capable of. Initiation was a different case, yes, but that was ony a small glimpse. Get over yourself Weiss, before you lose any chance you have of making friends that exist outside of your perfect little world."

Ruby had naturally moved to edge behind Jaune slightly, he hadn't yet noticed but the smaller girl was grabbing onto his sleeve a little. Sure, Yang had advised him against solving Ruby's problems for her but he really wasn't about to let this...this princess just bully his friend like that. Jaune Arc hated bullies. He didn't give a flying fuck who they were. He admired Ren's skills during initiation and during dinner exchanged between the two teams before his untimely injury, but he worried that a leader as quiet as he was would struggle to put his foot down when dealing with someone as difficult as what Weiss was. Though, to make matters worse, Jaune didn't think he could spot Ren anywhere.

"Where's your leader, anyways?"

"In Vale with Nora," Ruby put forward from beside him, "She had to get some Grenades and as much as I wanted to go look at the weapons I also had a brand new issue of X-Ray and Vav to get through. I'm a couple of issues behind but it's because newer ones are always hard to come by because of their popularity."

"Well, I've got a subscription that guarantees me the latest issue, the publisher is a friend of my dad's so, let me know when you're done and up to date with it then I'll loan you my copies until I can speak with him about getting you a subscription as well."

"You'd really do that for me?"

"We're friends, aren't we?"

Ruby didn't say anything else, but she did give a cute little nod at his statement and Jaune released a laugh. The two had become focused on their own conversation, so much so they hadn't even noticed the departure of Weiss. That is until Jaune turned his head and saw the spot where she was standing now empty.

"Well, if you want, Yang, Blake and Pyrrha all went into Vale for this, that and the other thing so you're more than welcome to come over into our dorm room, read your comics in peace and quiet away from little miss heiress."

"Are you sure? I'd hate to be a bother."

"Oh, shush, it's fine. I'll likely just be playing around with my scroll more than anything else."

"You worried you're going to get told off if you do anything more than that by the rest of your team?"

"...No..." but the perfectly arched eyebrow of Ruby Rose forced Jaune to reconsider his statement, "Only a little," which was met with a laugh from the crimson reaper. Ruby finally stepped away from Jaune and nodded to herself more than him. She moved toward her dorm and turned her head back, "I'll just go and get the comics I have then."

"Alright, just come in when you're ready, I'll leave the door open."

"Thanks, Jaune."

"Anytime."

After Ruby had collected her comics and returned to Jaune's room, she sat up over at her sister's desk, quietly going over her latest issue of X-Ray and Vav with a happy smile on her face. Jaune, on the other hand, had retreated to his scroll and had open his file on Spectral Kingdom. Maybe it was kind of pointless being on a character that had already reached the level cap. of Ninety, but going around facing enemies at least twenty levels or more below you had always felt strangely carthatic to him. For two people who were both not the most socially inclined, the balance of company and silence that they'd managed to strike was rather refreshing. Ruby was now free to relax without worry that Weiss was going to ruin it and Jaune got to spend some time with his friend, he didn't have a lot of those so he appreciated this time all the more than someone else might.

The rest of the day would pass with the two exchanging the odd conversation and a few jokes here and there but for the most part just enjoying each other's company while they did their own thing. It didn't matter that they hadn't ended up on the same team. They were still friends and they were only across the hall from each other, it wasn't like they were worlds away. Eventually though, those who had returned from Vale all arrived back at Beacon and Ruby and Jaune both smiled at each other knowing it was time to go their separate ways. Ruby had just returned to Team LVWR's room when Yang, Pyrrha and Blake entered ABYN's. Yang then thrust a hot coffee in a plastic takeaway cup into Jaune's hand, to which he grinned at, the coffee, not his team.

"I missed you," he murmured, taking a sip of the bitter drink the moment the cup reached his grip.

"Hello, how are you?" Yang said pointedly.

"Beautiful, how are you?'

"Ugh, men," Yang said, moving away to go and sort herself out after the long trip.

"You're almost as bad with that stuff as Ozpin is."

"Well, Ozpin is someone who a lot of people look up to," Jaune countered, "He may be a nutcase, but he's still important. So sharing a trait with him can't be all that bad, surely."

The pointed looks from all three of the other members of Team ABYN told the entire story, after which point, Jaune wisely decided it was about time that he closed his mouth. To enjoy the coffee he'd been wonderfully gifted with, of course. He took another sip from the plastic cup and had to bite back a moan from just how much he enjoyed the steaming liquid hitting the back of his throat.

"Thank you all for bringing this back though," he said, effectively cutting through the silence, "You didn't have to."

"Oh save it," Yang said, "You're always doing nice stuff for us, we can't exactly let you keep doing that without looking out for you too, for the next four years our mainstay is going to be each other and even beyond that."

"How d'you mean?"

"Teams that are formed in the training academies are often together until death, even long after the school years have become a thing of the past," Pyrrha explained, "After you've lived with someone for four years learning everything there is to know about them and almost developing a symbiotic relationship with them through missions and other things, it would be very difficult to start over without those people unless you were forced to do it. I've heard the only time a team truly splits is when it disbands due to in-fighting or when members pass away."

"Which means we're all going to be in this together until the day we die," Yang said fiercely.

Jaune didn't want to overstep a boundary by asking, but he could sense that the tone of voice Yang was using went much deeper than her new attachment to her team-mates. Perhaps she'd known someone who'd been through the experience of losing their team-mate through abandonment before and didn't want the same thing to happen to them? Without really knowing what was going on there, Jaune didn't feel like he had the right to comment on the matter. However, he also knew that he was going to do everything within his power to make sure that the same thing didn't happen to this team. Yang was right. ABYN would be together until such a time as death met them. Jaune was determined that wasn't going to happen for a long time either.

They would look after and protect each other.

Always.

"Well, it's getting close to dinner time at least," he said, "Sorry for sleeping away most of the day. I know I'm injured but that's really no excuse to spend the whole day sleeping. No matter how uncomfortable the beds in the infirmary are."

"You don't need to aplogize," Blake cut him off, "You've been through a harsh few days and have every right to take the rest."

"Better appreciate it though," Yang advised him, "We've got that training plan almost finished and when it is, you're going to wish you'd rested longer during this time. You're going to be the best leader and we're going to be the best team this Academy has ever seen. We'll make sure of it."

"Thank you...all of-"

"Nope," Yang interrupted.

"Nope?"

"Nope," she confirmed, "We already talked about it, we forgave you and we've made plans to fix the issue involved. The part of you staying is already covered by the rules, but your lack of training is going to be worked out by us so there's really no need to keep bringing it up. We've agreed to work together and advance so that's all there is to it."

"Yang's right, Jaune. We told you we'd stick with you and nothing is going to change that so you'd better quickly get that out of your brain," Pyrrha said.

"I'll happily punch it out of you," Blake added for good measure.

Knowing that he'd been put in his place on the matter so-to-speak, Jaune knew it would be best not to press the matter any further and decided to change the subject, to quit while he was a head as it were, "Well, with dinner being close we should probably get ready to head down to the cafeteria, right?"

"Not...exactly," Yang countered, "It's part of the surprise so I can't explain yet, but we're not going down to dinner tonight."

"We aren't?"

"We're not?"

"Just go with it Jaune, it's part of the surprise."

Yang's tone made Jaune feel slightly nervous. Having seven sisters wasn't exactly a good track record for the word 'surprise.' It usually involved being forced to wear makeup, weird hairstyles or on the rare, painful occassion, a dress. He highly doubted that Yang, Pyrrha and Blake would do any of those things but the trauma of those wonderful memories was enough to make the Arc a little bit nervous. He knew that it would only delay the inevitable should he kick up a fuss though and rose his hands defensively, showing that he would concede and go along with whatever this surprise was despite the hesitance he felt.

"Okay, Ladies-"

"-And Gentleman," Pyrrha cut Yang off for Jaune's benefit.

"It's time for us to kick this semester off with a Yang!"

Ignoring the collective groan of her team-mates at the pun, Yang pressed onward with what Jaune could only assume was the path toward his very death. With each moment that passed Jaune became less and less sure that this was a good idea. Sure, he doubted it was a good idea in the first place but this was just stepping things up into an entirely new realm here. He was unceremoniously pushed down onto his bed by the brawler and she then moved to the other side of the room, grabbing her scroll.

"What was that for?" Jaune exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Just because this is a surprise doesn't mean you taking it easy because of your injuries changes."

"I think you'll do more damage then me standing up," Jaune muttered under his breath.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Blake and Pyrrha sighed, both girls moving a few things around in the room, while hoping that the situation would diffuse itself without their interference. Jaune decided to resign himself to his fate, given that he was still technically within the timeframe that the nurse had told him to take it easy, Yang was right and even a small glimpse of her anger was enough to make him play along with this whole 'relaxing' thing.

"Besides," Pyrrha said, interjecting herself into the conversation, no longer wanting to leave this to chance, "you've made all three of us feel the importance of our roles on this team and while I can't speak for Blake or Yang. I've never known what it's like to have real friends like this before, so I think it's time that we showed you that you're just as important to this team as the rest of us."

"She's right, Jaune," Blake said quietly.

"You spend so much time doing so many nice things for us without even thinking about it. So forget your damn pride and enjoy yourself," Yang finished. The stern look in the Brawler's eyes left no room for discussion and Jaune finally relented, knowing that it was only fair if it was a two way street when it came to this sort of thing.

"Want to call for Pizza, P-Money?" Yang asked her.

"Very well!"

While Pyrrha made their orders, Yang went about adjusting the floor in front of Pyrrha's bed which was the one set up on the far side of the wall. With the help of pillows from all three beds and some cushions that Jaune wasn't really sure he wanted to know where they'd been obtained from, she managed to create a makeshift living room that, in his opinion looked somewhat inviting. He would've moved to help but since he'd already been told to stay put, Jaune thought it might've been in his best interest not to push his luck too much.

"What would you all like?" Pyrrha called back.

"Pepperoni with extra Pepperoni," Yang requested, "Thanks, P-Money."

"Tuna with extra cheese, thank you Pyrrha," Blake added in.

"And we'll get one drenced in coffee for Jaune," The red-head said, shooting her leader a playful smile to which she was met with a surprised expression. Was she teasing him? Well, he was happy that she was loosening up about that a little. Worrying about one's image all the time didn't sound either fun or healthy.

"Only kidding," she assured him, "I'm soorry. What would you like?"

"Garlic Cheese sounds good, Pyr. Thanks."

Pyrrha nodded, then returned to the call finishing off the order with their food as well as a bottle of soda each. Jaune's focus was suddenly drawn out the window, the flash of light in the distance catching his attention as if it had some deeper meaning. In the reflection of the light the young man's eyes flashed with recognition, memories rushing back through his mind unbidden.

"I'm going to take that things head off!"

Crocea Mors had been bathed in a shimmering sapphire light that made the blade appear several times larger than it was in its base and Jaune's own body was coated in the aura that seemed to be feeding itself into the sword.

The Nevermore screeched a second time and unleashed a veil of large feathers, shooting them down towards the earth as though they were projectiles. Jaune kicked off the ground, using the feathers as platforms on which he jumped up and across each one bouncing between them all flawlessly, adjusting his stance where needed until finally he was able to kick off one and ascend rapidly into the air. Jaune swung the mighty transformed Crocea Mors upward and cleaved the Nevermore's head clean from its body.

Suddenly, a loud roar sounded in the distance and the shimmering light of the weapon gripped in Jaune's hand spread a little further outward until it coated his entire body like a strange mystical light. There was a flicker of something that appeared for a single moment...but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

'What was that?' Jaune thought to himself, 'The last part didn't happen back in the Emerald Forest...'

He turned his head back to the room he was currently situated in and a loud yelp was thrown out of the young man's lips as he found himself looking rather closely at eye-level to one Yang Xiao Long. Apparently she'd crept over to him whilst he was lost in his own thoughts. Met by the sound of said yelp, the Brawler merely chuckled at her leader's expense and then moved back from him again.

"Sorry about that, Ladykiller," she teased, "You just seemed pretty zoned out. Pizza's gonna be here in about fifteen according to the guy on the other end."

"He seemed rather pleasant."

"So...I've figured out that pizza seems to be a part of this plan of yours," Jaune said, "and something to do with putting scroll movies on a big screen for all of us to watch together."

"Well, we figured it'd be a good chance for all of us to celebrate being a team and bring in the new semester. Originally we were going to a proper surprise party with LVWR, well likely minus Weiss but then the thing at the docks happened and you got injured so we figured we'd downscale the surprise to something the four of us could do together instead. What...are you disappointed?"

The tone in Yang's voice betrayed the confidence that Jaune usually heard there, which surprised Jaune somewhat. For someone so confident to be nervous like that...was he missing something? Perhaps, but he didn't mind that they didn't get the whole party thing, if anything it was better since even though friendships among their peers was important, but the bond of the team would always take priority. Once the pizza had arrived, Yang slipped the delivery guy three cards with varying amounts of Lien on them and the food was dished out.

"What's the movie?"

"The Hunts-Man and The Revenge of The Crimson Coil," Yang said excitedly.

"Wait, that's out?" Jaune said, his eyes widening.

Blake sighed. Perhaps the dark-haired girl had been expecting something a bit more mature but given her team-mates she really shouldn't have been surprised. Though, she decided that she would humor them for now and who knows? Maybe given the chance, this movie might surprise her. Now seated on the floor, Yang pointed up at the screen, "He kinda looks like you, ladykiller."

"You kidding? That dude's way cooler than I am!" he laughed through another bite of pizza.

"I see the resemblance," Pyrrha grinned, sipping at her water.

"Anyone brave enough to wear that ensemble even on a movie set is worthy of respect," Blake said, her bow twitching slightly as she giggled quietly at the appearance of the 'hero' on screen. Jaune rolled his eyes at the three of them, not expecting them to stop their antics any time soon. Sure, it was probably the least of the things he'd expected from this whole surprise thing Pyrrha had mentioned when they'd been in Vale before the situation but he couldn't help the grin that came to his face. Everything about this day had gone far better than he'd anticipated it to be.

Maybe he could find his spot in Beacon after-all.

Perhaps there was even a chance he could grow into becoming the kind of Leader ABYN deserved.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune finished pulling his uniform on, a smile on his face. Now having showered he was ready to face the first day of what Beacon had to offer. Jaune took one last look in the mirror to make sure that his hair wasn't sitting too messily. He calmly stepped back out of the bathroom and nodded, "Right," he said, "I'm ready. How long until classes start?"

"We've got about forty-five minutes," Blake observed.

"Just enough time for coffee," Jaune answered without hesitation and promptly left the dorm room with Pyrrha, Blake and Yang in pursuit, the latter of which rolling her eyes in frustration at their leader's attitude. Jaune wasn't entirely paying attention but he could've sworn he heard, "The damn coffee's not going anywhere, Jaune!"

Of course, Jaune, who had shot off along the hallway a good deal ahead of the rest of his team hadn't heard her and continued his advance toward the mess hall without so much as a single look behind him. At a suprisingly quick rate despite his recovering body, Jaune managed to make the trip in record time and when Yang, Blake and Pyrrha entered they found him already seated at their table sipping at a coffee discussing something with fellow leader and friend, Lie Ren.

"You need an intervention," Yang grumbled, dropping into a seat beside him.

Blake regarded Jaune with a small smile as she walked past and sat down at the end of their side of the table. Pyrrha slipped in between Blake and Jaune, smiling happily at the two of them.

"Hard to believe that week went by so quickly," Yang groaned.

"Getting up early blows," Ruby agreed, stretching out a little bit.

"You're both just being overdramatic," Weiss sneered, "I imagine that our classes will be interesting so don't be childish."

"Monsters...Demons...Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey, hah-hah!" Professor Port said, beginning the next part of his lecture, he was so focused in what he was saying that he hadn't noticed that most students were either slowly drifting off to take naps or keeping themselves otherwise occupied, "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy."

Jaune was one of the few students trying to pay attention to what the Professor was saying. Jaune was so far behind that he felt it was important to soak up as much as he could. Sure, he could do without all the extra lavishment but if he had to suck it up in order to learn something about the Grimm then he was going to do so. Pyrrha, Yang and Blake were going out of their way with the training plan they'd devised to help him get on track and he wasn't about to throw that back in their faces by underpreforming in class.

"Now, as I was saying," Port continued, drawing Jaune's attention back to what he was saying, "Vale as well as the other three kingdoms are a safe haven in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces and that's where we come in. Huntsman. Huntresses. Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why the very world. That is what you are training to become. But first a tale of a handsome young man."

"Still think we're being overdramatic, Weiss Cream?"

"Shut it, Yang."

"-In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero. The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable, a true Huntsman must be dependable, A true huntsman must be strategic, well educated and wise. Now which of you believes that you have what it takes to become a true huntsman?"

Weiss' hand shot up in the air immediately and Port regarded her with a smile, "Of course, of course. Well, how about a little demonstration then, MIss Schnee?" Jaune watched the ensuing fight, Weiss was able to slay the Boarbatusk Port had brought in, yet Weiss had accused Ruby of distracting her and the subsequent argument that broke out between Ruby and Weiss over it left Jaune in a position where he could only sigh. He hoped whatever the issue there was got resolved sooner than later because in his opinion, Weiss was being incredibly childish and this was dragging on far longer than necessary.

"Well," Port said, cutting through the Arc's thoughts, "That's all we have time for, off you go."

Jaune stood from his desk, collecting his books. He slipped them into his bag and then looked over to his team-mates who were doing the same, "What's next on the schedule? Combat Class, right?" Even though he was focused on the conversation with his team about what was to come, Jaune could've sworn he felt a pair of eyes glaring viciously into the back of his head. Was that the same feeling he'd gotten in the cafeteria a few days ago? He supposed only time could tell.

"Look at how smug he looks."

"Smug? He's a loser."

"You can still be a smug loser," Cardin muttered, "On a team with three girls? Bet he's living it up."

"That's a bit of an immature approach isn't it?" Dove answered, "We're all going to be Hunters and stuff I doubt there's anything untoward going on."

"You've gotta be kidding me Dove," Russell threw in quietly, making sure to angle himself at just the right direction so that no one else who was on the way out of the classroom could hear what he was saying, "You saw them in the cafeteria the other night, Goldilocks was all over him. Plus, the red-head always dotes on him as well, makes me sick."

"Don't tell me you two suddenly care about being honorable," Sky Lark said, rolling his eyes, "sounds more like jealously if you ask me."

"Nobody did," Cardin shot at him sharply, "Either way, I'm going to stomp that Arc kid into the ground and make sure he knows his place. His team-mates will be so embarrassed that they're stuck around such a loser instead of a real huntsman."

Combat Class proved to be interesting to Jaune and even though the first lesson was mostly based in combat theory, Jaune found this to be an excellent opportunity to add a few little notes to his book and build on what had been put in from Grimm Studies before. Side-notes were added when something he thought made allude to the hidden secrets of Crocea Mors which he could eventually use in pursuit of trying to discover more of the truth behind the secrets of the weapon. He'd finished making another anecdote in the book when Professor Goodwitch's voice reached him.

"Now that brings our theoretical part of the class to an end, let's end off on the note of having a spar between two of our students...any volunteers?"

"I'll go!"

This what the excited exclamation of one Nora Valkyrie, member of Team LVWR and Jaune had to admit he privately felt very sorry for whoever it was that ended up getting paired off with Nora during this fight. She'd entirely scared him senseless during the small time they'd known each other and it was only reinforced every time Jaune remembered that she'd ridden an Ursa to the temple during their initiation.

"Very well, Miss Valkyrie and...?"

"Me!"

This was the confident call of another student. Jaune winced, already hearing the crushing of the bones from where he was sitting. The kid looked particularly scrawny even by his own standards, like one hit from Nora's hammer would smash him clean in two kind of scrawny. Jaune almost felt bad, the two had barely returned from the locker room and a second after Godwitch had called for the match to begin, a single swing from Magnhild and ended the match by throwing the other student from the ring.

"Well...that was something," Yang muttered.

"Kinda feel bad for the guy," Jaune agreed.

"Well, given that match was over a fair amount too quickly, shall we have another? Miss Rose? Miss Xiao Long, how about you?"

"Me?" Ruby asked, "Fight Yang?"

"What do you say, Ruby?" Yang asked her sister, smashing the knuckles of her fists together.

Ruby's face brightens and she nods once, "Yeah!"

Jaune and Ren share a look that clearly screams, "Oh boy." Though Jaune notes that Weiss seems much more reserved than usual, her attitude seemed to sit less...on edge? He supposed. Well, it wasn't really his business as long as this led to her and Ruby getting along a little bit better than he would stay out of it. It wasn't his team after-all.

"Yang."

"Yes, Jauney?"

Jaune rolled his eyes, Yang's clearly faked tone of innocence not fooling him even one bit, "Please don't assist your sister in destroying the school during our first combat class, okay? I like it here."

"Buzzkill," she muttered to him, "But fine, I won't destroy anything."

"Thank you."

_**End Chapter** _


	8. Clash In The Land of Beacon

Jaune looked down toward the arena, privately feeling very thankful that he was not one of the two present in the ring currently. He knew that he'd mostly been surviving his fights on luck for the most part and in no small part thanks to Crocea Mors' involvement when he needed it most. While his resentment for the lack of understanding he possessed in regards to the weapon, he had to, albeit begrudgingly, thank the weapon for his ability to even make it this far.

"The rules," Miss Goodwitch cut through the silence and effectively brought Jaune's internal musings to a halt, "Will be the same as a tournament style match-up, the winner will be determined by either ringout or when one fighter's aura drops into the red zone. Any questions?"

"Nope!"

Yang dropped immediately into her stance, small clicking noises sounding through the auditorium as Ember Celica opened up into its battle-mode. She bounced a little on her heels, watching her younger sister with focused violet eyes. Ruby, in contrast unfolded Crescent Rose and twirled it backward as she took her own stance and prepared for the battle ahead.

"Ready!" Ruby called exuberantly.

Jaune wasn't entirely sure, but the exuberance in Ruby's voice didn't seem exactly the same as the tone she'd used for a good portion of the time they'd both spent together since arriving at Beacon. If he were to make an assumption, her current tone was faked? He supposed that only time would tell.

"Very well, then you may begin."

The literal second the final word left Goodwitch's mouth, Yang lunged in toward Ruby. She hammered off shots with Ember Celica in her sister's direction yet Ruby seemed able to zip through the shots and narrowly avoid taking any damage.

"She's quick," Pyrrha noted.

"Hmph," Weiss agreed.

Jaune's own gaze remained fixated on the battle, ignoring the conversation between the two girls for the most part. He'd not started his training with the girls yet, but he knew he had absolutely nothing to lose to paying attention to how other people fought. Observation was, after all, a very good way to learn something.

Finally having gained some distance from Yang, Ruby let loose a few shots from Crescent Rose's Barrel, however, much like Ruby had done with her shots, Yang weaved between them all and avoided taking any damage.

"And they have skill to rival that speed," Ren observed.

"All this dodging is booooring," Nora complained, "Fight, already!"

"Miss Valkyrie, please!"

Nora wisely shut her mouth under Goodwitch's reprimand, yet, all through this, one Jaune Arc's gaze had not left the battlefield at all since the beginning of the fight. His left eye followed Yang's backward somersault as his right moved to track a similar motion from her smaller crimsonette sister.

Clash!

Jaune vision recentered on the blade on Crescent Rose and the metal of Ember Celica crashing together in the centre of the ring, a powerful eruption of gale-force wind burst from the point the two weapons collided and his gaze shot up to the screen at the back of the class now displaying that the two girls were both sitting at around half their reserve aura with Yang's a little more full than Ruby's. If he hadn't felt like a fish out of water in regards to his attendance at Beacon Academy he definitely did now. They moved so damn fast that he could barely keep up with what was going on and what's more is that the level of speed they were both displaying seemed effortless, like the two of them weren't even trying.

Yang bounced on the balls of her feet again, Jaune noticed that seemed to be a regular occurrence whenever their fight stilled for a moment. He privately wondered whether this had something to do with her semblance or was just a natural part of her stance. Given that he had no idea what her semblance was their was equal opportunity for it to be both.

"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed.

Again, Jaune's brow shot upward. Yang had separated Ruby from Crescent Rose and looked like she'd been announced as the victor of some prestigious tournament. The look in the Brawler's eyes told Jaune that his team-mate thought this battle was over. Though from what he could tell, a good shot to Yang's legs would destabilize her. He was no fighter, but his keen eye and strategic mind picked up on that part of Yang's fighting style very quickly. She relied heavily on her upper body strength, fueled on by her weapon's power. If she trained with her feet as well and found a way to incorporate a similar design to Ember Celica as boots then she'd become twice as lethal...Not that Jaune thought a more lethal Yang was something anyone should deal with, of course. Was something to think about, though.

Back in the ring, Yang advanced on Ruby. She took absolute advantage of Ruby's lack of ability when it came to hand-to-fight and within only a few moments, their battle had come to an end, "And Miss Rose's aura has been depleted into the red zone, making Miss Xiao Long the winner."

Ruby pouted as Goodwitch announced Yang as the winner but accepted her loss with a determined nod, folding down Crescent Rose and returning it to the clip at the back of her combat gear.

"You both did very well for the first lesson," Goodwitch told the two girls, "However, Miss Rose I would highly suggest coming up with a way for you to manage without your weapon. It is unwise to leave yourself in a position where you're absolutely defenceless the moment you let go of it. Miss Xiao Long for you, I would advise not pulling your punches against your sister. What if she'd truly betrayed you? Would you be able to forgive yourself if your reluctance to hurt her cost you someone you cared about?"

Both girls were silent, but Jaune could tell from the expressions on their faces that they were deeply considering the advice that Goodwitch had just given the both of them. Once Yang and Ruby had both returned from the lockers now dressed in their school uniforms, Goodwitch's attention was once again drawn up to the stands, "Next up, we'll have Mr. Winchester and...Mr. Arc, how about you?"

'Me already? I've not even had the chance to train yet! This is not going to end well! Isn't there literally anyone else who can fight that big brute?'

"Uh...Um sure, why not?"

"You don't sound too confident about it, do you?"

Jaune didn't need to turn his head to know who'd spoken. He'd not personally had any interaction with Cardin before, but he'd seen well enough how he was around other students to know that the guy was bad news and this was only the beginning of his problems with the larger young man. Jaune instead looked toward Yang, a silent question of what he should do written on his face. To Yang's credit, she didn't laugh at her leader she instead offered a sad expression and shrugged her shoulders, indicating that she was at a loss for what he should do as well.

"Well," Goodwitch said sharply, cutting through the silence, "You'll need to go and collect your training gear, Mr. Arc."

'Er, right."

Jaune's thoughts were pounding against his skull and no matter how much he advanced toward the lockers, these thoughts didn't abate for even a moment. The literal only chance he had of winning this fight was if Crocea Mors interfered like it had done when he was in the Emerald Forest during initiation, it'd not happened in a fight since then but since it was literally his only hope of making it through this without being pounded into a pulp by Cardin, he had no chance but to rely on the thought that the sword would finally come to his aid again.

After changing into his combat gear and strapping Crocea Mors to his waist, Jaune returned to the auditorium and ascended the stairs to the platform that would double as the ring for his incoming clash with Cardin and he took a sole breath, drawing the sword and unfolding the shield into his grip. He crouched down slightly. No vibrations yet like had been there in the Emerald Forest...but the fight hadn't begun yet...there was still time for the sword's power to kick in.

"I'll try and make this quick for your sake," Cardin assured Jaune in an arrogant tone, "Shouldn't take me more than five seconds to wipe the floor with you."

Jaune's eyes narrowed, he was trying his best not to be overwhelmed by what his opponent was saying, but his anger was quickly rising to the surface. He'd been treated like this in the past and though the words were different...the way his opponent was standing over him and belting out insults was exactly the same.

"Though, I might draw it out and have some fun."

Goodwitch sighed, she wanted to intervene, but this was now a sanctioned match between two students and trash-talking was naturally going to be a part of it. Though, it surprised her somewhat that the Arc kid wasn't biting back even in the slightest. Jaune looked down at the blade...not even a tremble of that power from earlier making itself known to himself. Was he doing something wrong? He'd triggered it so easily in the forest and yet had never been able to do so again.

'Answer the call,' he practically begged the weapon from the interior of his mind, hoping to will it to life with his heartfelt plea and yet, even then, the sword didn't respond, it still remained as still as ever. Jaune was so focused on trying to get Crocea Mors' hidden powers to activate that he almost didn't hear Goodwitch call for the match to begin and it was, admittedly, only thanks to luck that he managed to roll out of the way of Cardin's initial strike.

"Slippery little thing aren't you?" Cardin mocked, "Don't worry, it'll be all over soon, just stay still."

Up in the stands, several sets of eyes bore into the fight below. Yang's fist was clenched tightly as her eyes flickered between lilac and crimson. Pyrrha was tapping the ball of her foot against the concreted flooring beneath them all repearedly, narrowed eyes aimed in Cardin's direction and for some reason Blake was covering her mouth with both her hands, a glare of her own aimed in the red-haired boy's direction.

'Y'know,' Jaune thought, rolling out of the way of another strike, 'If you want to help me out, now would be a great time to intervene!' Unfortunately, the time that followed up from the initial strike didn't see Jaune being so lucky with his dodge and he was struck by the bludgeon of the mace, luckily taking the strike to the center of his chest=plate which absorbed most of the damage so that his aura didn't deplete too much from a single strike, still it'd down about as much as you'd expect it to.

'Thank you for nothing you useless hunk of metal,' Jaune thought sarcastically, trying to push himself to his feet and the moment he managed it, the bludgeon of Cardin's mace crashed into his chest-plate again, sending him flying transversely off the side of the platform and down onto the floor below.

"And that's the end of the fight," Goodwitch said serenely, "The winner is Mr. Winchester."

The winner is Mr. Winchester.

Jaune didn't know what he'd been expecting, surely not to win. Yet, he didn't just lose, he lost decisively and definitely looked like he shouldn't be here in front of the other students. Jaune sighed, pulling himself to his feet and moved back to the platform.

"Well done Mr. Winchester, you demonstrated an unrelenting barrage of offense and showed your skills. One thing I would urge you to work on is the manner in which you conduct yourself during a battle. Arrogance has felled greater and more experienced warriors. Never assume. As for you Mr. Arc, well, you did awfully, hopefully it was just the nerves of the first day but you clearly have much to work on."

'Thanks for pointing that out,' Jaune shot back through his thoughts.

Both boys nodded, then departed the room in pursuit of the lockers to change back into their uniforms.

"What the hell was Arc playing at?" Weiss vocalized.

"Not. A. Word," Yang cut her off, a sharpness to her voice that exceeded the one she'd used the last time Weiss had acted this way. Sure, she knew Jaune had not done very well at all, but considering his experience level, Yang was incredibly proud of him for not getting stomped in one hit. Sure, he'd still been absolutely picked apart by Cardin but someone with as little fighting experience as Jaune had lasting that long against someone with years of training? It meant he had raw talent and that was something she, Blake and Pyrrha could work with. She did know that wasn't the only problem they were about to face though, Jaune had proven to take loss of any kind very harshly and this in her opinion would be no different.

Whatever was to come, they'd all have to face it one way or another.

Yang had been correct about one thing that day. Jaune Arc had taken his loss to Cardin horribly. It didn't help that said boy was giving Jaune a difficult time over it at every single opportunity that he got. It seemed that every time the Arc turned his head, Cardin was there to ridicule him about his performance in combat class.

"You're better than what he thinks," Pyrrha would try assuring him, "He wasn't there when we were all in the Emerald Forest."

"That was one time," Jaune countered for what he felt like was the hundredth time, "And I've never been able to replicate it. It might be safe to assume that he's onto something."

"Then, you know what we need to do, right?" Yang said, trying her best to jump in to the conversation and steer it in another direction. The hurt look in Pyrrha's eyes thanks to the comments made by the Arc wasn't something the Brawler wanted to extend. She was a girl of solutions and solutions she would make, "Instead of bitching about it, you need to prepare for it. I said I'd help you and I'm not backing down on that, Jaune."

Yang pushed herself up from her bed and playfully thumped Jaune on the shoulder, "Remember our conversation about letting people in lady-killer, you don't have to do this on your own. If you were supposed to fight all of your battles on your own you'd have been put on Team Jaune not Team ABYN."

"I'd like to help you as well, if you'll let me," Pyrrha contributed, "In whatever way I can."

"Well," Yang observed, "Blake uses a Katana which is closest to Jaune's weapon so we should put her in charge of helping Jaune with his sword-work, but we'll also incorporate that with you teaching him some of your moves as well, Pyrrha but we don't want to rely on it too fully since a lance and a sword are two entirely different weapons. I think it'd be best for you to help Jaune build his endurance since out of the four of us you can go longest in a fight."

All three of the other members of Team ABYN looked at Yang as though she'd grown a third head.

"What?" she answered them, "Just because I like to be playful and make jokes doesn't mean I'm some idiot. If we're going to make the most of this we need to make sure that we're all on the same page. Blake has a sword, so she's best to help Jaune with his. Pyrrha is a champion fighter meaning the endurance she has for multiple opponents and matches in succession is at a high level and I'm going to teach Jaune to manage agility and hand-to-hand combat."

"There's no reason we should necessarily limit it to Jaune," Blake put in quietly, "I think we all have a lot to learn from each other. Of course having teams for missions is the ideal situation but I think this is the real reason we're put on teams during Beacon. To learn from each other as well as the staff so we can grow both in mental and physical ways."

"Makes sense to me," Jaune agreed.

"A shame many of the other students do not see things this way, isn't it?" Pyrrha vocalized, "They all come here thinking that they've already learned and trained all they need to. Which creates attitudes like the ones Weiss and Cardin possess."

"I don't think Weiss is necessarily cut from the same cloth as a guy like Cardin. She's had a rough upbringing, Cardin's just a bully who thinks he's owed something because he's a big bulky dude who can swing a metallic ball on a stick."

"I knew you had a thing for her," Yang teased upon hearing Jaune's response, a smirk on her face.

"I do not!" Jaune fired back, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his tongue out at her playfully. Laughter rang out through the dorm and for a moment thoughts of Cardin and Weiss were forgotten. Jaune stretched out some then grabbed his hoodie off the end of his bed, "Well, no reason we can't start now, right?" He collected his sword from the bed as well, revealing it to have been sitting on the bed beneath his hoodie.

Team ABYN walked from the dorm out onto the rooftop behind their room, it was, in Jaune's opinion, somewhat similar to a balcony, except several times larger and meant it would be easy enough to use it for training. He slowly walked into the center of the area and slowly drew Crocea Mors.

"One second," Yang said, approaching Jaune. She quickly removed the shield from his waist and moved back to the wall, where she leaned the folded down object against the wall, "You have aura, a shield is practically useless and only going to slow you down." Yang almost shivered when she felt the narrowed and hurt eyes of one Pyrrha Nikos glaring into her back. The brawler didn't dare turn back for, unlike Jaune, Yang had grown up with a sister who's puppy eyes had the strength of nine girls and she was powerless to resist any form of them. It wasn't that she was soft towards them at all, nope, how could you even suggest that?

"But if you insist on using it later, then we can accomodate that into your fighting style," Yang corrected herself, knowing it had to be Jaune's decision in the end, "But either way it's a good skill to have, being able to fight with or without one. That way you won't fall into the trap Ruby did which is relying on your full load-out so much. If the shield ever gets pulled away from you, knowing how to fight without the extra weight is important as well."

Pyrrha stepped up beside Yang and gently extended her foot to tap it against the side of Jaune's leg, "Bring your legs in a little, you're not Cardin's size so a wide-stance won't suit you, you want a stance that's going to capitalize on your manoueverability. The flow of battle is just as important as landing big hits. Sometimes many small hits can do more damage than one big one. Plus it'll allow for an easier transition between offense and defense than a bigger fighter has."

Jaune did as instructed and brought his legs in little closer, he'd barely accomplished this when another foot tapped into the back of his right leg, "Right foot forward," Blake told him softly. She was much quieter than his other team-mates so Jaune was hardly surprised when she didn't offer a similar explanation for the choice of movement for his stance like Yang and Pyrrha had. She then moved back to the front of Jaune alongside Pyrrha and Yang.

"Alright, Blake, take a swing at him."

Wordlessly, Blake took Gambol Shroud into her hand and clicked it into place in sword-form then she advanced toward Jaune, swinging it toward him. The absence of his sword was partially to blame, he felt the lack of being able to raise it to take an incoming blow was frustrating for sure but on the flip side of this was the lack of the exxtra weight. His sword moved before his mind could fully register what he was doing and a loud clang rang off the rooftop.

Jaune had just blocked Blake's attack.

Yang nodded, but didn't unfold her arms. It was just like she thought. The Emerald Forest had clued her into as much. As a smaller fighter, a large shield like the one possessed by Crocea Mors was at most only weighing Jaune down. In the Emerald Forest when the magical aspect of his sword had activated, the shield hadn't been touched once. Still, she would leave the decision in his hands. She wanted to teach Jaune how to fight without a shield so that he had access to a more versatile approach when faced with battle, but the decision on what weapons to use would always rest with Jaune himself.

"Again," Jaune said.

Blake nodded and slashed at Jaune, this time doing it much faster, and Jaune was able to narrowly block the incoming strike, however, Blake retracted Gambol Shroud and whirled to the side, extending the blade again, effectively slashing at Jaune and the Arc doubled over, surprised at the sudden change.

"A Huntsman must be ready for anything," she told him plainly, "Just because I'm your team-mate doesn't mean you should expect me to take things easy on you. If we're going to make you into the fighter you want to be then you're going to need to take this seriously and so are we."

The night went on with all three girls beginning to introduce Jaune to the aspects of the training that they'd be carrying out with him. The four of them worked well into the night, clashing metal ringing out through the academy as they worked and by the time the darkness had fully set in Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang and Blake had worked up a good sweat, they each took their turn in the showers and were now dressed in pyjamas seated at the ends of their beds talking.

"You've a natural talent for this, to think you improved so much in so little time," Pyrrha observed, "I've never seen anyone take to anything as quickly as you've taken to battle."

"He's a natural," Yang agreed, thumping Jaune playfully on the shoulder, "Which is why you shouldn't let someone like Cardin get to you. He's probably reached close to the height of his potential. Especially since he believes that he's got no room to improve."

"One can never grow if they are unwilling to move," Blake observed.

The day had turned out to be rather interesting for Jaune. At first he was angry, frustrated and hurt that he'd lost to Cardin. Someone with an attitude like that...it was an unhappy reality that he knew he'd have to face until he got better at fighting. Everything had improved though and he knew two things. In time, he'd prove himself worthy of being a Huntsman and that he ended up on the best team he could've managed. He'd never really had friends before, but he wondered if this was what it felt like to have them.

"Well, we should probably be getting to bed," he said aloud.

"Shouldn't we have a round of Ninja Madness first?"

Jaune groaned, "Tomorrow's another day, Pyrrha."

"I'll hold you to that, leader."

'Of course you will.'

Goodnights were then exchanged and then Jaune heaved himself into his bed, being asleep practically the moment his head hit the pillow.

_A man slowly stepped into the light. He was dressed in black trousers, combat boots and a sleeveless black shirt underneath a green tunic that covered most, if not the entirety of his body. A black bandana was loosely tied around the man's forehead that seemed to be holding his ashen colored hair away from his face._

_The figure silently advanced through the sand, his boots creating a crunching sound underneath the force of the man's footstep against the ground below. His vision seemed entirely focused on something not yet revealed to the scene._

_"So, you've come, Acheron."_

_"As you knew I would, brother."_

_The dark-haired man slowly reached up behind him and encircled his fingers around the handle of the weapon concealed beneath the tunic. He drew his sword from the inside of the scabbard and pulled it to the light._

_"E-excalibur," the other man murmured, almost every octave of his voice was laced in disbelief. His disbelief was quickly replaced by anger, however. His fist clenched and his entire body trembled with rage at the very sight of the weapon, "He chose you!?" the man snarled, "You are who not even a member of this family by birth? He chose an adopted bastard to wield the most powerful weapon in existence!?"_

Ozpin closed the cabinet behind his desk and a low sigh left his lips. As the memory once again rolled through his mind. These situations seemed far more frequent of late. Little flashes of a life he barely even could recall it had been so long ago. He remembered all of his lives strongly, but he hardly ever recalled sections of memory without any warning, Ozpin sighed.

"Just when I thought I'd escaped the life of Acheron Arc."

_**End Chapter** _


	9. Acheron's Secret

Ozpin sighed again, lifting his mug to his lips and exhaling a sigh of relief as the bitter liquid hit the back of his throat. It didn't matter how many lives the man had endured, it was moments like this he could always cherish. Just himself and a mug of his favorite beverage. The world could be burning outside his very window and it likely was but this was one moment that he could truly count being lost to time. Another sigh was freed from the man's lips, but this time it seemed to be filled with regret and sadness rather than relief. Did Excalibur's recent resurgence cause Acheron's memories to become prevalent in his mind? Of all the countless lives he'd endured, Acheron was the one that he recalled the least, for, despite being one of the lives most costly associated with his time with Excalibur it was also one of the shortest in terms of length.

Ozpin slowly moved across the ground back toward the cabinet he'd been leaning on and pressed a lone finger to the knob, he didn't even wince as the blood secreted from his finger and encompassed the locking mechanism. A small click indicated the process had been successful and a moment later, the doors slowly opened to reveal the contents that Ozpin had hidden inside. The objects looked ordinary enough and to the outside eye they probably wouldn't mean a thing. Ozpin's eyes, though, they flashed with recognition at the sight of the small dagger and a gleaming silver ring.

A sigh fell from the aged man's lips, "Where did it all go wrong, Llacheu?"

_"C'mon Ach!"_

_"You're going too fast! L'lac!"_

_A blond boy was running across the field, laughing happily as the dark-haired boy rushed up, hot on his heels...though, the second boy looked far more exhausted than the first, "You'll never be worthy of the Knights if you can't even run at my pace, little brother!"_

_Despite the exclamation, Llacheu slowed so that the younger boy might join him where he was standing. Laughing at his little brother's pout, Llacheu reached over and ruffled the boy's hair, "Don't worry about it, Ach. I'm sure they'll need someone to clean the stables or something!"_

_There's another laugh that passes from the older boy's lips and the younger just shook his head mumbling something under his breath. There was a tense silence for a moment, then the two boys shared a laugh and continued on their way, not noticing the two men watching them rather closely from the hill-top._

_"They are growing quickly, Arthur."_

_"Too quickly," the second man agreed, "Far too soon, the time to hand Excalibur to one of them will be upon us. That alone shall be the ultimate test of the bond they share as brothers and friends. My only hope is that no matter my decision they do not lose themselves to jealousy."_

_"Is there even a choice, milord? Surely as the blood heir it should be Llacheu who inherits the sword and be named hero of the realm like you are."_

_"Unfortunately, the decision is not such an easy one to make, Lancelot. I must do what is right for not only our realm but I am also deciding the best course of action for the future of that realm as well. I have struggled my entire life with a duty tied to both crown and sword..."_

_"A weight I'm sure that Llacheu would carry proudly, my King."_

_"As I am sure he would as well, but am I to leave Acheron with absolutely no inheritance merely because he's an adopted son? I have no desire to leave my youngest with nothing. Adopted or not, he's just as much my son as Llacheu is, no matter what anyone else in the Kingdom might think."_

_Lancelot sighed, "That heart of yours is going to be what gets you killed someday, my friend, you're so unwilling to hurt anyone else that the only one who ends up with the pain in the end is you."_

_"A burden that I have come to accept over these many long years, old friend."_

Ozpin sighed, gripping the dagger in his hand a little tighter, his fist trembling around the handle he had a grip on. That had been the end of the lighter years. The end of his childhood. A month later, Llacheu had been announced as King, the coronation was held...and everyone was in celebration as Arthurian Arc stepped down from his role as King...the only problem with that was when Llacheu turned around expecting to be handed Excalibur by his father... he was met with only a smile and an explanation that Arthur wasn't quite ready to let go of Excalibur just yet.

Ozpin hadn't known it at the time, but Arthur had only told his eldest son this to bide some time and would entrust the role of protector of the realms to Acheron, thinking that one child having the crown and the other possessing Excalibur would cease any possible fights and that the two could work harmoniously together as they had all the way through their childhoods and right up into their adult lives. Llacheu had already married Princess Isode and were on track to have a happy life together.

But right from the time he was a teenager, something had been different for Acheron and if Arthur didn't know better, he'd have thought that his son was two people sharing the same body. The way that he seemed to be able to have knowledge only possessed by an extremely select few, or the mystical energies he could utilize in a way that almost rivaled Camelot's oldest wizard in Merlin... It was all a little uncanny.

Arthur's thought that his son's would be able to get along with one inheritance each, however, did not come to pass. While Acheron was content to not receive the title of King as he had never wanted that role for himself, Llacheu was _furious_ that he had not been chosen as protector of the realm and the new wielder of Excalibur. It would lead to Arthurian Arc's murder at the hands of his own blood. He and the remaining members of the Knights of the Round Table were all slaughtered in one fell swoop by the mad king. Not even Merlin and his apprentices had been able to bring him down.

Only Acheron and Excalibur together had the power to bring down Llacheu. Ozpin remembered it as one of the most painful battles he'd _ever_ had to endure across multiple lifespans. There was so much love, loss, friendship, brotherhood, hatred, anger and emotion embroiled into that one struggle and if it were not for the curse the brother's had placed on him...Ozpin was sure that all the different situations he was dealing with during that time would've brought about the end of his life. It was after that day that Ozpin and by extension, Acheron had realized that humanity could not be trusted with the power of Excalibur and thus split the weapon into seven pieces.

Ozpin rubbed at his temples, slowly returning the dagger and ring to the inside of the cabinet. The moment he'd closed it, the blood ward kicked into gear and a small 'click' indicated that the two weapons were hidden behind the seal once more. How long had he carried these secrets? More than he cared to remember, really in those days, the tradition to name children after colors had not been too popular during that era, or it was just an effect of that place specifically. It was also the life that he had the least interaction with _her._ Ozpin had been constantly looking over his shoulder yet his enemy had never made herself known. He knew she was still out there, yet she hadn't intervened.

One thing was for sure, Ozpin needed to make sure that _she_ never learned of Acheron's secret. He'd barely retaken his seat when he heard a soft ringing drifting through the entirety of his office, signaling that someone had just rung the door-bell.

"Enter," Ozpin answered calmly.

The door to his office slipped open and the aged Professor Port entered the room. Ozpin nodded once, "Good evening, Peter."

"Good Evening Headmaster," Port said, entering the room fully and he approached Ozpin's desk, "I have handled the task you gave, I doubt we'll be dealing with anything from that hoarde for a while in the very least."

"Very good," Ozpin acknowledged, the mug in his hands being raised back to his lips for the aged man to take another sip from the depths.

"I always found it weird how much of that stuff you drink if you don't mind me saying so."

Ozpin grinned down at the cup in his hand, a memory of a long time since passed. It reminded him of a faraway place that he could never quite let go of, a memory of his first discovery of the liquid many centuries prior had a smile cross his face, but he simply nodded to Port and a shrug followed along with the words, "It's just...I never want to miss how beautiful it is."

Peter Port laughed openly at this, "You remind me of one of my students!"

"Oh, really now?"

"Mr. Arc is almost as fond of that stuff as you are."

It might've been a trick of the light, but Port could've sworn he saw the smallest of smiles quirk up on the lips of the headmaster, but as soon as he got a chance for a proper look the smile was gone again. He did see instead the elder man's mug rise to his lips again as he inhaled yet another gulp of the coffee he enjoyed so much.

"How strange," Ozpin observed, ' _must be a family trait after all.'_

"Coffeee~"

"We get it, ladykiller."

Another day at Beacon had begun for Team ABYN, and this day began much the same as all others did, complaints from one Jaune Arc, Leader of ABYN, who was yet to consume his daily morning coffee. This ultimately led to another layer of frustration from the still tired young man who was becoming more irritable with each passing moment that didn't include said beverage in front of him. Eventually, and painfully in Yang's opinion, they got through both Jaune's whining and the space between the dorms and the cafeteria. Jaune sprinted ahead to claim his prize and this was followed by another sigh from the Brawler.

"We'd better get him some food when we grab ours," she bemoaned, "I've dealt with complaints about coffee all morning and I'm not about to go until lunch hearing about the fact he didn't think to eat anything at breakfast."

There's a light laugh exchanged between the three girls and they follow after Jaune at a much more relaxed pace. After collecting his coffee, Jaune paused about half-way towards the table that Teams ABYN and LVWR had chosen as theirs. His eyes widened with horror as the realization of what he'd done finally came crashing against him. He'd been so focused on obtaining coffee that he'd neglected to get any food while he was at the counter. He really was not a morning person and it was damn well showing in the worst possible way. What an _idiot!_ Did he have enough time to get back in line and eat without being late for his classes? He'd barely taken a step back when he felt a tray being shoved into him. Jaune's eyes widened to meet the playfully exasperated face of Yang Xiao Long, the person whom had just thrust the tray into his hands.

"Thanks," he vocalized, a nod following his words.

"Don't mention it," Yang told him, "C'mon we'd better go and join the others at the table. We're going to run out of time if we just stand around here."

Jaune nodded, making his way toward the table before Yang had even fully finished her sentence. She chuckled at the boy's departing form and shook her head at his antics. She turned her head to Pyrrha and Blake who were also sharing a similar expression to herself. Their leader's one-track mind when it came to coffee clearly a point of amusement for the three of them. Ren looked up from the teacup he had his focus on and gave Jaune a nod.

"Greetings, Jaune."

"Mornin' Ren, sleep okay?"

"It was pleasant enough, thank you, and yourself?"

"Weird, if I'm being honest with you."

"Weird? What makes you say that?"

Jaune sighed, he'd not brought up the previous night with any of his team-mates, yet, when Ren had asked it sort of came out and now everyone around their table was looking at Jaune expectantly as though waiting for him to elaborate.

"Just a dream I had," he said somewhat evasively. How much could he reveal without sounding completely insane? Acheron Arc? The hell was his brain doing to him right now. He sighed and turned back to Ren, "That's all."

"What happened in-" Ruby went to ask but she was immediately cut off by the cold voice of Weiss.

"I'm sure no one will care to hear about the dreams of a teenage boy, no doubt filled with tales of perversion and granduer."

Jaune sighed, no doubt he should've expected such a response from Weiss. His fist naturally clenched, his hand trembling slightly, "My ancestors weren't perverts obsessed with grandeur and even if they were I'd bet they were right in with _your_ family. Aren't they the primary reason there's so much dissonance between humans and Faunus?"

"Oh snap!" Nora shouted loudly.

"You probably shouldn't say that about your team-mate," Ruby put in meekly, trying to keep the peace somewhat.

"So, this dream was about an Ancestor, then?" Ren asked, wanting to cut off any argument between the two teams before it even started. Brothers forbid Yang getting angry at Weiss again.

Jaune nodded, "Someone named Acheron."

"Acheron?" Pyrrha asked softly, "Well, the name sounds old enough to belong to someone's ancestor for sure. Perhaps if we have time between all the other things on our schedule we should do some research on him?"

"I'd like that," Jaune agreed quietly.

The conversation is interrupted by a laugh from Weiss, except it's not a happy one, it's harsh and condescending even, "Acheron? There's **no** way you're related to him in this or any other reality."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, it was a dream for one thing. Besides, the only Acheron I've ever heard of was an Athurian Prince who existed to the latter end of the sixth century and the thought of you coming from royalty is laughable."

"Well," Jaune said, pointedly talking over Weiss so that he didn't hear the end of her sentence, "Even if I'm not related to him, having a dream about him has to be significant, doesn't it? I'm going to research him either way."

After their breakfast was consumed, the two teams stood and exited the cafeteria, though Weiss, of course, made sure there was a wide berth between her and the rest of the group. Jaune's attention once again drifted back to the dream he'd just experienced the previous night. Acheron Arc had been the previous wielder of Excalibur. Yet, Weiss had just pinpointed him as someone who existed several centuries before the modern era. Was there a possibility that Acheron had wielded Excalibur before it was split into pieces?

Was that dream somehow linked to Crocea Mors and discovering a way to reclaim that strange power he'd wielded during the Emerald Forest? There'd been no clue of that, only that Acheron and his brother had argued about Excalibur and from that he had created the assumption that the two of them had gone on to fight over the sword. He was clueless on the result of that battle, he had a firm resolve, he _would_ find out more about Acheron and the secrets he was hiding.

"Jaune? You've been staring at the classroom door for ten minutes," Pyrrha pointed out, "Class starts in two."

His eyes almost burst out of his skull and the Arc charged into the room as fast as he could. Yang and Pyrrha giggled at the sudden change and Blake gently shook her head though she was smiling whilst doing so as Jaune rushed toward his seat. The remaining members of ABYN ascended the steps then joined their leader at their desk. Jaune had his notebook open already and was scrawling down notes in as small handwriting as he could manage.

_**\- Acheron Arc** _

_**\- Excalibur** _

_**\- Brother 'Name Pending'** _

**-** _**Late Sixth Century - Early Seventh? Time-Frame** _

_**\- Athurian** _

_**\- Royalty** _

If Acheron was truly an ancestor of his, then...how much of the family history had his father been concealing for all this time? Did anyone else know? Could he even prove that Acheron was an ancestor of his family? He couldn't really afford to be getting distracted right now, class was still important especially when he lacked in every aspect of huntsman life. His little side project about finding out more in regards to the man he'd dreamed about would have to be put on hold until a later moment in time. Blake kept a close eye on Jaune throughout the next few moments. She didn't say anything about it aloud, but the rapid obsession that seemed to be forming in her leader's mind surrounding thoughts of this mysterious Acheron figure was concerning to her.

She personally knew how damaging an obsession could be, her hand trembled hand slightly and she clenched her fist to stop it from shaking any further.

"Blakey?" Yang asked the other girl concernedly, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she responded airily.

The conversation was effectively cut off before it could really get started. The door to the classroom had once again swept open and this time it brought with it a man who looked not too much older than any of the students in the room, if Jaune were to guess this man was roughly mid-twenties or late at the very most. He was a hazel-eyed man with long, dark hair that had been tied back into a warrior's wolf-tail using a hair-band that looked to be made out of chain-link. His outfit consisted of white trousers, black combat boots that came up to his knees and a black trench-coat over what looked like a metallic vest. Jaune thought its design was rather ornate for a Huntsman's armor, especially the small chain that dangled over the man's belt from the bottom of the metal of his vest.

"Welcome students to my class, now first off I'll have none of this Professor nonsense. I'm not all that much older than yourselvea and we're all Huntsman and Huntresses anyway so what's the poit in formalities, name's Desmond Quicksilver. You can call me any variation of the above."

"How unprofessional," Weiss muttered under her breath.

"What's unprofessional Miss Schnee is speaking so quietly about someone when they're in the room. If you're going to mutter about me, might I suggest you not be so obvious about it?" Jaune sees it, though it doesn't seem obvious at first, this Desmond...was exuding a smirk in his very demeanor yet his facial expression remained as impassive as it had been when he had entered the room, "I'll let you off with a warning this time, but insult me again and you'll face _severe_ consequences, clear?"

"Y-yes."

"Good," Desmond confirmed, "Now that we're all on the same page, you must all be wondering what it is that I teach? I'm afraid that I must bore you, I'm here to teach you sorry lot about the magic of the English Language."

The room was so silent you could've heard a pin drop. Desmond let this continue for a moment longer then he burst out laughing, "You should see the looks on your faces, it's like someone murdered your pet or something! Don't worry I'm only joking!" He turned slightly then appeared at the other end of the black-board and every student in the room leaned forward in their seat slightly, hoping to get a better glimpse of their instructor.

"I'm a specialist in Assassination Techniques," he explained, "and my course is likely one of the most useful you'll find in Beacon Academy."

"Assassination Techniques?" Cardin called from the back of the classroom, "Isn't that just a fancy term for killing Grimm?"

Desmond's gaze shot up to this and another laugh left his lips, "Humans, Grimm, anything in-between. Assassination is the art of killing entire hoards of enemies without being detected even once before all enemies have been felled, but I'm not going to be teaching you lot Assassination techniques. I personally doubt anyone in this room could perform even the most basic of Assassination techniques. I was well into my years as a Hunter when I began my journey into these techniques."

"Then what will you be teaching us?"

"How to survive," Desmond answered Sky Lark seriously, "Not only from Grimm but also from other things you can expect to find out in the wilderness. Sure, you'll have the basic concepts from the time you spent being trained or during the time at the Huntsman academies but there's more to surviving the wilds then knowing how to sleep on the ground."

"What could be so difficult about camping?" Cardin continued.

"In theory, nothing," Desmond answered Cardin's question good-naturedly, "But it becomes much more complicated when hunting for food and supplies because you don't have anything except for the clothes on your back wouldn't you say?"

"I...I guess so."

Jaune couldn't wipe the smirk off his face. This guy had just put Weiss _and_ Cardin in their place within five minutes of his first lesson and if that wasn't a sign of good things to come then he would accept that something was just criminally wrong with this world.

"For example," Desmond said, removing a small knife from the inside of his trench-coat. He held it to the light and the blade glinted, "This tiny little dagger has many applications for cutting and slicing, but not many people know that it can also be used for something else...could anyone here tell me what that might be?"

"A blade holds heat," Jaune observed, "One could use it to cauterize a wound with the right experience, or it could also be used to spearfish and collect fruit after being tied to a stick with rope or some strong, resistent vine and if you really wanted to stretch it, knives can also be used for scaling trees, though it's generally recommended to use two for this."

All around the room jaws were falling open one by one, Jaune, resident nobody of Beacon who was the lowest student, surely, in their year level, had finally displayed some semblance of knowledge in a topic related to huntsman life? It was purely unthinkable that he might be able to have such a moment. Desmond didn't seem to notice this however, for there was a smile on his face as he nodded and flipped the knife back into the scabbard concealed within his trench coat.

"Wonderful," he said appreciatively, "That's the sort of survival knowledge you're all going to need if you hope to survive out there. There's also certain patterns and such that you'll need to be aware of if you end up close to an encampment of Grimm. Camping near them is incredibly stupid and I would highly advise against doing so if you have literally any other choice. As huntsman and huntresses though, you're not going to always have the luxury of making that choice and I'm going to make sure that by the time you finish my course that you can, if forced, handle a night or two in such a place."

Desmond looked on at the varying expressions on the faces of his students. He was somewhat relieved to see their excitement. Camping and survival weren't exactly the most glamorous parts of the job and even though it was such a big part of missions, most people he'd been instructing just wanted to see and/or hear about his assassination techniques rather than being interested in what he had to teach. Problem with many students in Beacon he thought, was that they all assumed they had everything all figured out. This year's intake though, perhaps he could actually work with students like these.

"Right, well, here's the deal," Desmond said, as for way of breaking through the silence that had taken over the room upon him concluding his previous statement, "Over the course of the semester I'll teach you the things you need to know and right before semester ends, if your skills have improved to an acceptable level we'll celebrate both your improvement and getting through the first semester by having a trip of sorts into the wilderness, how does that sound?"

"Like you should start teaching!"

Desmond laughed, "I like your enthusiasm, Miss Valkyrie, then...let's get started."

The rest of the lesson passed without issue and furthermore, Jaune seemed entirely in his elemeent during the entire process. He answered questions, offered Desmond thoughts and the two ended up having a very in-depth discussion about the advantages of spear-hunting versus bow-hunting. By the time class came to an end, the Arc had a big smile on his face as the students exited the classroom and headed off for their next lesson.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day hadn't gone as well as Desmond's lesson had for Jaune. It had been an absolute disaster to put things gently and once the day had come to an end, the Arc couldn't help but feel happy that another one was out of the way. Now hr could look toward other things until he had to suffer through the exact same process come Monday morning. For now, he had the entire weekend to do research on Acheron and also to train with Blake, Yang and Pyrrha. That was also an anomaly in his life. Jaune really hadn't expected the traning to be as fun as it was and despite all three of his friends wiping the floor with him, Jaune had already began to notice small flashes of improvement by the end of their first session and it inspired him to get right back to doing the same thing so that he could improve some more.

He wanted to be up there at the level of the rest of his classmates and though he had much further to travel in order to get there, he was determined to one day walk alongside his peers and not miles behind them. He'd work towards it, never giving up on his goals for even a single moment. It didn't matter what Weiss, Cardin, his father or anyone else thought. Jaune Arc wanted to be a Huntsman and a Huntsman he would be.

"You alright, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, unknowingly interrupting the young man's musings.

"Yeah, Pyr. Sorry, just got a bit lost in thought that's all."

She nodded, accepting his explanation as they both turned their heads to the classroom door in time to see Yang and Blake walking out of the room. Yang was wearing the usual smile she had on her face, but Blake looked downright exhausted. Jaune couldn't tell what it was, but something about his dark-haired team-mate felt incredibly odd. He didn't know her well enough to press the matter though, so...as much as it bothered him, he accepted that he probably wouldn't tell him what was bothering her and decided it best not to pursue the matter any further.

"Are you in any rush to start research on Acheron?" Yang asked him.

"Sort of, but I can wait if there's something more important that's come up."

Yang pointedly looked at Jaune, then looked toward Blake and then without a second thought, she announced, "Blake's looking pretty tired, think you can carry her back to the dorm on your back like you did for me the other night?"

"Y-yang, that's hardly necessary," Blake tried, even as she grumbled, it was hard to miss the tiredness in the amber-eyed girl's voice, "I am perfectly capable of walking back to the dorm myself and if Jaune wants to go to the library to begin research on Acheron then I also have no issue with that."

Evidently, Yang and Pyrrha had already decided that they woud be having none of this and with their combined strength managed to put Blake on Jaune's back despite her protests. There was a moment of tense silence, then Blake leaned her cheek into the Arc's back and closed her eyes.

"Fine."


End file.
